Sunset at Port Gold
by Rio Grande
Summary: When the Straw Hat crew docks at a sketchy port, Luffy and Nami find themselves caught up in an adventure with a crime boss that might shake the foundations of their friendship, and help it grow into something more. LN.
1. Poison, Candy and Garbage

Hey all, welcome to my first Once Piece fic! Although I love One Piece dearly, I will readily admit that I am not yet an expert on the show, so if you see any mistakes be sure to tell me. This is basically a big hunk of Luffy/Nami fluff, with a little (I hope) plot. And action, I'm gonna try and add some action. I don't own One Piece, read, enjoy and review! 

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

**Sunset At Port Gold**

By Rio Grande

Chapter One: Poison, Candy and Garbage

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoo

Often when the motley Straw Hat crew docked in any port they were bound to stick out like a sore thumb, being that they were a wildly dangerous and somewhat well known band of pirates out for treasure, and normal people tended to have a healthy fear of people calling themselves pirates. For most of the crew, this was sort of a perk of the job. Instant notoriety - people feared you before they'd even laid eyes on you, and you were automatically the center of attention.

So, when the crew docked at Port Gold one fine morning, they were all surprised and partly resentful over the fact that they received little to no attention at all. Their large, obnoxious flag of a skull and crossbones with a straw hat that Usopp had painstakingly created generated not one raised brow, not one scream of fear. When Zoro unceremoniously leapt off the side of the boat and onto the dock with all three of his bulky swords resting at his hip, his customary angry scowl firmly in place, nobody milling around the port even glanced his way. And when Robin grew an extra pair of arms to hold Sanji back from kicking Luffy into the water after the boy said something outrageously dumb, there wasn't even the usual house call from the local authorities.

"All right Nami, where have you taken us now? What's up with this place?" Zoro growled, frowning into the mass of people bustling around the outdoor market a few yards away from the ship.

"I told you guys, Port Gold is one of the most dangerous, shady places you'll ever find... it's basically a safe haven for criminals and people running away from their pasts," the small red head said as the crew grimly regarded the port in front of them. "But we've been at sea with no chance to get supplies for weeks, and Port Gold is pretty well stocked. We'll be able to get all of our shopping done, provided no one gets all their money stolen,"

"Oh, I think we can handle ourselves," Sanji said smirkingly. He took a final drag of his cigarette before flicking it into the dirty harbor water where it immediately disappeared into the murky liquid. "Besides, you're right, we're too short on supplies to pass this opportunity up. I'll take care of the food shopping,"

"Okay, who wants to cover inventory? I got it last time, so it can't be me," Nami declared, hands on hips. "I can't do _everything_ for this ship, you know."

"I'll do it Nami!" Luffy volunteered, raising his hand up high and shaking it vigorously. Their fearless leader was in good spirits today; it was still early morning and he had already succeeded in ticking of Zoro, Sanji and Nami.

"Uh... any OTHER volunteers?" Nami asked of the crew, beseechingly.

"What? Why can't I do it? I'm the captain!" Luffy protested, looking mildly offended.

"Because last time I let you restock supplies for the ship we got tomato paste to brush our teeth with and coconuts for cannon balls!"

"Oh... yeah, hahaha."

"I'll do it Nami," Usopp said, resigned. "I've never had to before so I guess it's my turn,"

"Thank you Usopp," Nami said primly, pulling an impressive list out of her pocket and handing it over to Usopp. "We'll need all of this by tonight then."

"WHAT! I can't get all of these supplies by tonight," Usopp whined, looking over the heinously long piece of parchment Nami had handed him. "Give me some more time,"

"Okay then, what time do we all want to meet up?" Nami asked the crew.

"Let's say tomorrow night, same place!" Luffy offered. Everyone nodded their heads in approval, mumbling about the various chores they had to accomplish.

"That'll give me enough time, and I've got to send a letter to Kaya. It's been months and she's probably worried about me!" Usopp said, hurrying off. Usopp had been plagued by this father's lack of communication with him after he went out to sea with Shank's crew, so the young man had become a bit obsessive about writing to his hometown sweetheart on a regular basis. The crew had taken note of this, and had teased him mercilessly about it accordingly.

"I'll keep watch over the ship today if I can go around town tomorrow," Chopper offered.

"All right, I'll stay behind tomorrow," Robin agreed quietly before heading off into the thick throng of people with no further adieu.

"Everyone be careful!" Nami called after her. "If we split up we won't be able to help anyone if they get into trouble..."

"You worry too much," Zoro teased, patting Nami on the head as he passed by.

"Yeah Nami, we're pirates! We can handle anything!" Luffy agreed with a wide grin that threatened to crack his rubber face.

"Oh stuff it," Nami said sharply. "And where are you going, Zoro?"

"Somewhere I can train in peace," the swordsman said cryptically before turning a corner.

"Figures," Luffy laughed gaily.

"I'll see you at the ship tonight guys," Sanji called as he too headed out in search of the freshest food the port had to offer. "I figure we'll all be coming back if we don't want to sleep on the streets." Nami watched Sanji go and then made as to move herself.

"Where are ya goin' Nami?" Luffy asked as he watched his navigator begin to leave. Nami turned around and realized that Luffy was the only crew member still hanging around. Chopper had already gone back inside.

"Oh, I was thinking of just shopping around town, maybe checking out some of the bookstores and seeing what maps they had to offer. Rumor has it this place has some pretty rare, old maps lying around if you know where to look," she explained.

"Sounds cool! Can I come with you?" Luffy wanted to know. Nami smiled at her captain, realizing that he was probably asking because he honestly had nothing else to do. Whenever the crew docked at a port and stayed for any elongated period of time, everyone usually had stuff to occupy themselves with. People to write, things to prepare for, but Luffy had nothing. His life was his ship and his crew and when those things weren't around he was usually left bored and alone. Nami took pity on him and quickly nodded her head.

"Of course, you can be my bodyguard and make sure no one pickpockets me!"

"Like you would let anyone steal YOUR money, Nami," Luffy joked.

"Haha, right," Nami agreed, shaking her head and then starting off with Luffy at her side. But the joke about her possessiveness of money was somewhat melancholy for the eighteen ear old, now that everyone knew why she used to be so obsessed with getting gold. It made the notion seem less funny, and more sad.

Pushing those sort of thoughts aside, thoughts she hardly ever dwelled upon because they made her heart hurt and her eyes sting for some reason, Nami focused on the positive things happening to her just then. She had an entire day on land ahead of her, there were supposedly some good maps in her future if the rumors were true at all, and she got to spend some time with Luffy, alone! Nami probably would never admit it, but she thoroughly enjoyed all of the time she spent with Luffy.

More then receiving Sanji's excessive praises of her beauty, more then sharing harsh witticisms with Zoro, or listening to Robin recount fascinating historical facts, she just loved talking to Luffy. True, Usopp was fast becoming one of her best friends, and Chopper was just interesting unto himself, but there was something about Luffy that kept Nami smiling. Smiling earnestly, that is, and not her fake smile she used on most other people. In truth, it took someone of great caliber to make Nami's real grin shine through and she had long ago dubbed Luffy one of those people. Of course, he had saved her life and home, and believed in her when literally no one else in the world had... so he had that going for him, as well.

"Do you know where we're going Nami?" Luffy asked as the duo skirted their way around the crowds, edging by gigantic men with more tattoos than teeth, busty women wearing outfits so scandalous Nami had to avert her gaze and children whose eyes looked far harsher than they were meant to.

"Sort of, I have a map," Nami said, grinning. Luffy laughed at that as well.

"Figures," he chuckled. "Do you mind if we eat first? I'm staarviiing."

"Sure. Look, there's a bar right there. Let's see if they have food," Nami said, pointing to a dingy looking pub with a decrepit sign hanging in the front that read 'The Sandy Merman.' It didn't look as though it was going to get extra brownie points from the health inspector, but Nami knew for a fact there was a dearth of respectable restaurants at Port Gold. Besides, this was Luffy. You could basically arrange three wooden crates in an alley, and so long as there was a healthy supply of meat at the table he'd see it as a bonafide eatery.

"Perfect!"

Nami and Luffy entered the bar and no one looked up. Starting to get used to the lack of attention they were receiving, they both took a seat at the bar. There was a sparse collection of customers at the Sandy Merman that day, mostly old crusty men smoking cigars and hacking up phlegm. The gentleman behind the bar looked to be elderly as well, although there was something about his face that seemed odd. He was listlessly cleaning a glass and staring into the distance when Nami and Luffy sat down right in front of him.

"Hey, got anything to eat?" Luffy asked, not beating around the bush. The bartender regarded Luffy for a second before replying in a low, raspy voice.

"We've got some sandwiches..." he admitted. "But they're not very good,"

"That's no way to sell your product," Nami mumbled.

"Do they have meat in them?" Luffy pressed urgently.

"Well, yeah," the bartender conceded.

"Then I'll take ten!"

"Ten?"

"Actually, make it eleven," Nami added sweetly. "One for me."

Minutes later the two were digging into their lunch, Luffy throwing back whole sandwiches in the time it took Nami to swallow a bite. Both had a pint of ale in front of them as well, and the bartender was watching Luffy eat with mild fascination. Nami smiled to herself; the bartender's reaction was all too common.

"You should see him with a leg of lamb," she whispered suggestively. The bartender nodded weakly and then got back to his cleaning, the lines around his mouth and forehead thickly drawn. Nami shrugged and was about to get back to her own sandwich when she noticed someone watching her and her rubber captain. Squinting, she spotted a young boy, perhaps a bit younger than she and Luffy, watching her closely from a table in the corner of the bar. He had bright blue eyes and was staring intently at her... or was it Luffy? Nami was about to arch an eyebrow at him in a silent question when Luffy noticed her peculiar actions.

"What's wrong? Don't like your food?" Luffy asked, his hand inching towards the skinny girl's sandwich.

"No, it's that boy in the corner. He's been staring at us," Nami replied, slapping Luffy's hand away easily. Luffy turned to see what she was talking about, but the boy had already looked away again and was now staring furiously into his glass of water. Luffy regarded him grimly for a moment before letting a smile back onto his boyish face.

"Aw, he's just a kid Nami. Don't be paranoid. Zoro was right – you worry to much!" Luffy laughed, stuffing another chicken sandwich down his throat.

"Worry too much, do I? Fine, I won't ever worry about you again," Nami huffed while folding her arms across her chest indolently.

"Okay!"

A half hour later Luffy was done with his meal, and was fishing around in his pocket for cash. By the time he paid Nami was already outside, regarding her map. Her eyebrows were drawn together and Luffy knew better then to bother her when she got like this, because when Nami got into a map, not even he could make her attention waver.

"I think I know where we're supposed to be going..." Nami admitted after a minute. She rolled up the map and stuck it back into the bag she was wearing before pointing North, into the heart of the port. "It's a ways that way. You ready?"

"Yep!" Luffy replied, excited at the prospect of going farther into the sketchy port. Luffy was like a car that ran on the prospect of danger, and a decent fight every once and a while.

It soon became apparent to Nami that port Gold didn't really have any streets, like the map had said, but back allies. Just a whole lot of back allies. With signs that called them streets. But really, when you were walking down a road just big enough to fit one person at a time, and squished in between two old apartments that smelled like week old garbage, what else were you supposed to call it?

"I think it's just a few more blocks," Nami was saying when she spotted someone waiting for her at the end of an ally she and Luffy were sneaking through, single file. It was the boy from the bar, and he was standing between her and the exit to the ally with his fists clenched at his sides, the light from the behind him throwing his auburn hair and face into shadow.

"What's wrong Nami, why did ya stop?'" Luffy wanted to know, peeking around Nami's shoulder.

"It's the boy from the bar, Luffy," Nami whispered as the young man began to rapidly approach her. "I TOLD you there was something weird about him."

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask of something, uncorking it as he drew nearer. Nami's heart rate increased, and she tried to back up, only to bump into Luffy's chest. This didn't look good.

"Hey, you! What do you think you're doing?" she cried, unnerved by the boy's odd actions. But the boy said nothing, merely continued rushing forward with the uncorked flask in his hand. When he got close enough, he chucked the flask forward so that a dark liquid from inside it came rushing towards Nami. Nami squeaked in fear and covered her face, waiting to be drenched with whatever it was the boy was throwing at her. There was a loud splashing sound, and then Nami realized she was still completely dry.

"Hu?" the young navigator said, looking up. At first it seemed as though she was surrounded by a thin red tent, before she realized it was just Luffy shielding her form with his expansive rubber body. "Luffy!" she gasped, realizing he had taken the hit for her.

Returning to his normal shape, Luffy inspected his now drenched face and torso. He was covered in a dark purple liquid that was quickly drying into his skin.

"What is this stuff?" he asked of the boy, who was currently standing a few feet away from he and Nami. Now that his face was no longer shadowed, both pirates could see that the expression he was wearing was not one of satisfaction, but trepidation and perhaps fear.

"I-it's poison!" the boy declared loudly, his voice wavering only slightly. Nami and Luffy's eyes got big.

"POISON?" they chorused, horrified.

"Yeah, and it enters through your skin so ... so now you're infected, you rubber man!"

"Wow, that sucks," Luffy commented lowly. Next to him, Nami's face was turning ten shades of red and her left eye was twitching dangerously.

"What did you poison Luffy for, you brat? What do you want, and who are you anyway?" she yelled angrily, approaching the young man with calculated steps, her hand going to her folded up staff she kept at her hip.

"Stay away!" the boy ordered nervously as he watched Nami get increasingly angry. "Don't touch me or I'll never give you the antidote! My name is Jon Jon and I have a mission for you!"

"A mission?" Luffy echoed, tipping his head thoughtfully.

"We don't CARE what mission you have for us! Just give us the antidote now!" Nami insisted threateningly.

"N-no!" Jon Jon said firmly, as though trying to find the nerve to stand up to the temperamental red head. "Listen, you've gotta steal back a painting called Port Gold in Spring from Hardcandy Sweet by tomorrow night or else there won't be any antidote for your captain!"

"Hey, you know who I am," Luffy said with a large grin, pointing to himself proudly.

"Of course I do," Jon Jon affirmed. "Why else would I chose you for this mission? You have to be able to get this painting for me, okay! Now hurry, before the poison starts to take effect and you don't have the energy for it! I'll meet you by the docks tomorrow night!" With that Jon Jon spun on his heal and made to leave the ally.

"Oh no you don't!" Nami cried, giving chase. She tailed Jon Jon out of the cramped walkway, and then stopped abruptly when she reached a larger street on the other side. Her caramel eyes darted every which way as she tried to catch a glimpse of the boy's shaggy head or the dark green shirt he was sporting. But there were people cluttered everywhere now, and too many possible allies the boy could have turned down in the thirty seconds Nami lost sight of him.

"Luffy," she called back to her captain. "We've got to catch that brat! Why don't you get a bird's eye view - stretch your neck out!"

"Why?" Luffy asked, shrugging his shoulders. "You heard him, as long as we get that painting from Hardcandy Sweet by tomorrow night we'll have the antidote anyway."

"Why?" Nami repeated, dumbstruck. "Because we're pirates and we don't let people manipulate us like that!" However, at this proclamation Luffy only smiled wider.

"I think it could be kinda fun. Like an adventure!"

"Yeah, with your life on the line!" Nami cried, frustrated. Why couldn't Luffy see? Why couldn't he see that his life was too important to he- to everyone for him to just blow off like this?

"Hey, if it looks like it's getting too hard to find this painting we'll find Jon Jon and get the antidote ourselves. But let's play along until then," Luffy said, his face completely serious. Nami stood staring at him with her mouth agape for a minute, before finally sighing and shaking her head. When it came right down to it, she couldn't get Jon Jon back without Luffy's help anyway so she really had no choice but to go along with whatever the rubber man wanted.

"All right, if that's the way you want it. But you have to promise that if things start to look bad..."

"Aalll riiight!" Luffy cheered, throwing his head back and letting out a hearty laugh. "Now we've got a treasure to find! This is gonna be GREAT!"

"Yeah, really awesome..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooo

It seemed pretty apparent to the two of the three founding members of the Straw Hat crew that in order to start their quest, they were going to have to figure out just who Hardcandy Sweet was.

"I've never heard of this person before," Nami admitted as she and Luffy found a nice, crowded market place to start their investigation. "In fact, all we know about them is that they have this painting in their possession. We're just going to have to hope they're a relatively well known sort of person, and that the good people of Port Gold will have some information about them,"

"Let's start with him!" Luffy said, pointing to a large man with blotchy, pockmarked skin. He was standing at a booth wearing a blood spattered apron and was selling, of course, meat.

"The butcher?" Nami said, raising an eyebrow. "Well, if you want..."

The obese butcher looked up from his cutting board, momentarily putting aside his work on the rather large rack of ribs in front of him in favor of regarding the peculiar duo that had sauntered up to his booth. There was a pretty red head whose eyes were focused a little too intensely on his face, and a very odd looking teenage boy was hanging over his pork chops, drooling.

"Can I help you," the butcher asked in a scratchy baritone.

"Actually, yes," Nami said in her most professional I-mean-business voice, while simultaneously pulling Luffy away from a whole chicken as he made a mad grab for it. "My friend and I here were wondering if you had any information for us,"

"What sort of information?" the butcher wanted to know, his untamed, bushy eyebrows lowering ominously.

"Information about a certain person – Hardcandy Sweet. You ever heard of them?" Nami asked. Luffy momentarily stopped gazing adoringly at the cutlets in front of him in favor of watching the butcher's reactions. Immediately the butcher's face turned ashen, and he averted his beady black eyes, as though checking to see if anyone was listening in on his conversation.

"N-no... I've never heard of her before..." he mumbled softly.

"Her? So it's a she? Then you have heard of Hardcandy Sweet!" Luffy said triumphantly.

"No! No that's not what I meant! I've never heard of that person before! And don't say their name so loud!"

"Listen mister, we may not look so tough but we're part of the Straw Hat pirate crew. In fact, Luffy here is the captain. So if you don't tell us what we want to know we could make your life pretty difficult, if you know what I mean," Nami said, surprised by her own gall. She hardly every threatened people with the pirate card, she felt it was below her, and she wasn't sure why she was doing so now.

'Because you need to get Luffy that antidote, above all else,' a little voice whispered in her ear, and Nami's eyes hardened once more.

"The Straw Hat crew? For real?" the butcher asked in disbelief. "I always thught you guys would look a bit more... beefy. And intimidating."

"Hey, I'm plenty strong!" Luffy argued, flexing his arm muscles. "Watch this! Gum Gum Punch!" And with that Luffy's arm stretched back impossibly far before snapping forward and slamming through a pig carcass that had been hanging by the butcher's head. Innards went flying everywhere, covering all three people in bloody connective tissue and guts.

"Ewww... Luffy!" Nami whined, pulling a string of meat from her hair.

"Oops," Luffy said, licking his face guiltily. The butcher looked worried.

"All right, all right I believe you already," he sighed, waving his hands in front of him in a defensive motion. "You really must be the infamous rubber man, but I still don't know if that's going to make you any match for Hardcandy Sweet."

"Who exactly is she? What does she do? She must be someone pretty powerful to have you all stressed out like this," Nami said pointedly.

"She runs this town, basically. She's a crime lord and I've never seen her personally, but I heard she can make things explode just by looking at them..."

"Does that mean she's eaten a cursed fruit?" Luffy wanted to know.

"I don't think so, but this is all just hearsay. If you want more information about her, you better ask Old Man Toros. He lives above the blacksmith on 8th street, and he's been here longer than anyone else I know. He'd probably be able to tell you about her in more detail,"

So Luffy and Nami thanked the butcher for their time and headed over to the geriatric Toro's house. He lived in a dusty old apartment with a collection of birdcages hanging from the ceilings and rolling around in corners, some with actual birds still living in them. He was reclining in a comfortable looking leather chair when the two pirates began questioning him about the crime boss Hardcandy.

"She's got the eyes of a devil, and lives in the center of port gold. No one's ever betrayed her and lived to tell the tale. And whenever someone does cross her path, you can be plenty sure the next day that their house will be a pile of ashes. She can make things explode with the snap of a finger! But if you want some real information on her go see Ms. Coral who works at the bakery on 17th. Her husband used to do errands for Hardcandy before he had a heart attack from the sheer stress of it, and she might be able to tell you more,"

A half hour later they had made it to the bakery, and after picking up a bag of fresh cookies they asked Ms. Coral was SHE knew about Hardcandy.

"She's the cruelest woman there ever was. I have no idea why you'd want to find her. I don't think anyone even knows her actual place of residence, but they say you can find her most often hanging around the Cursed Pearl pub on 25th with those fearsome body guards of hers. Be careful though, if you let her so much as touch you - you'll blow up from the inside out before you have time to scream!"

When Luffy and Nami arrived at the Cursed Pearl, a slightly more upscale looking bar then the Sandy Merman, they spoke to the owner about Hardcandy Sweet. He, like everyone else in town, seemed extremely hesitant to say anything about the mysterious woman. He was balding and had large, yellowed eyes from excessive smoking.

"Hardcandy Sweet? Yeah, she comes around here sometimes, we are the best bar in town after all," he said with no small amount of pride. "I really shouldn't be telling you this, but she comes in here at exactly five P.M on most Tuesdays..." he whispered, leaning in close so that no one in the bar could read his puffy lips. Nami and Luffy traded worried glances.

"But that's tomorrow night!" Nami said, distressed. "That's cutting it pretty close..."

"Well, it's the best I can offer because you're never going to find her hideout," the man said flatly. "No one ever has,"

"At least we've got something Nami," Luffy said optimistically as they left the bar. It was late afternoon so the sun was starting to set in the sky and and Nami had to shield her eyes from its orange glare. "If we don't find her before tomorrow we'll just stop back here and finish things off,"

"But you heard what Jon Jon said. That potion is going to start to make you really weak – what if you're in no condition to fight her by that time?" Nami asked.

"I'll be fine!" Luffy assured her confidently.

"I'm sure Jon Jon wanted me to be the one who was poisoned, and for you to be the one to go out and get the painting, using me as an incentive to do so," Nami deduced. "I'm a pretty good thief, true, but you're way more efficient when it comes to convincing crime lords to listen you,"

"Well I couldn't have let anything happen to you Nami," Luffy explained, keeping his expression neutral. "It's better that I'm the one who got poisoned, anyway," Nami felt a rather prominent blush spread over her cheeks at Luffy's unthinkingly touching words.

"Luffy..." she breathed, abashed. "That's not true... you are..."

"You probably would have panicked like crazy and then we really never would have gotten anything done!"

"You JERK!" Nami growled, kicking Luffy in the shin and then marching past him. "Why do you always have to ruin things with that big mouth of yours?"

"What did I say?" Luffy wanted to know, hopping around on one foot with an angry scowl on his face.

"Never mind..."

"You're so confusing, Nami." The two were about to head back into the cluttered town in search of Hardcandy once more, Nami moving like a cat on the prowl, a purpose to her step and a swing to her hips, while Luffy moved much like a man who had thrown back one too many vodka shots, as was his natural gait. At the suggestion of their latest informant, they were heading to the fish market to speak with an old harbor master who, supposedly, had more information about Hardcandy.

Nami was beginning to think that Hardcandy was less of an actual person and more of a terrifying concept too abstract to be human, when real physical evidence of the woman's existence nearly hit her straight between the eyes.

"What the-!" Nami squawked indignantly, watching with part fascination and part horror as an arrow came zooming at her. Before the deadly weapon made any connection, however, Nami was yanked forcibly aside.

"Whoaa..." Luffy commented, holding Nami to him with a strong grip.

"Who the hell just did that?" Nami wanted to know, bracing herself against Luffy's hard chest and realizing she rather liked the feeling, choosing to stay by his side instead of moving away. Bad things seemed to happen to her when she moved away, in any case.

"We heard a couple of newbies were asking questions about Hardcandy Sweet..." a low, raspy voice said from the shadows. Swiftly, two men sashayed out of a small doorway and in front of Luffy and Nami. They were peculiar characters, and could have passed for twin brothers with their matching, slanted green eyes and slicked back hair. They also had similar twisted grins and two piece suits, although the first man's suit was bright pink while the other's was a flamboyant purple.

"Oh boy... these must be some of Hardcandy's lackeys," Nami whispered to Luffy, who said nothing, merely stared intensely at the two new men with a grim frown on his face. "I should have known if we poked around enough something like this would have happened,"

One of the men had a crossbow strapped to his arm with another arrow that resembled a red and white striped candy cane ready to be fired, and the other had a ball and chain, the ball taking on the appearance of a bubble gum ball. Nami nearly rolled her eyes, pirates and their themes...

"I'm Licorice, and this is Twizzler," the man in the purple said. "And we don't appreciate you asking around about Hardcandy. We think it would be better if you would just mind your own business,"

"But we need to speak to Hardcandy!" Luffy insisted, stepping forward with an earnest expression on his tanned face. "Tell her it's very important,"

"We will do no such thing," Twizzler hissed contemptuously. "Hardcandy doesn't have meetings with losers like you. She's a real classy lady,"

"Yeah, cuz lots of classy ladies I know send thugs out to go rough up people who ask questions about them," Nami interjected sarcastically. Twizzler shot her a cold look and fingered his crossbow.

"I missed last time, missy," he said threateningly. "But I've got pretty accurate aim, and who knows how lucky you'll be second time around," Nami colored and clenched her fists.

"Are you threatening me?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Luffy said, stepping in between the two before things got any hotter. "Listen, just tell your boss that two members of the Straw Hat Crew would really like to speak to her, all right? We'll set up a time and place and everything will be great!" he insisted.

"I don't think so. Orders are, if you don't cooperate, we take you out," Licorice drawled, reaching for his chain. "And since you seem to be doing the opposite of cooperating..."

Abruptly Licorice's chain whipped out and rapped around Luffy's stomach, knocking the air out of him as the heavy pink gum ball hit him in the gut. Luckily he was able to stretch his body back in time so there was minimal damage.

"What the..." Licorice said, staring at Luffy's stretchy body.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?" Luffy asked innocently, drawing his fist back. "I'm a rubber man!" With that he let his arm stretch out far enough to sock Licorice clear across the face, watching in satisfaction as the henchman reeled backwards before collapsing.

"Damn!" Twizzler cursed, watching his comrade skid across the filthy cobblestone ground. "No one said you'd eaten a cursed fruit! You're gonna pay for that! Boys, get them!"

"Boys?" Luffy and Nami echoed. Before either teen had time to react, there was a large rattling sound from above them and they both lifted up their heads with trepidation to see where the sound had come from.

On the roof above them some colorfully dressed men were heaving an object over the side of the building, directly over Luffy and Nami. The pirates barely had time to scream before they were both covered in a thick layer of trash from the dumpster that had been tipped over the three story building.

"Nami!" Luffy yelled, trying to cover the smaller girl with his body before she got hit with any oncoming trash. As soon as their forms disappeared in the falling debris, Hardcandy's henchman quickly fled the scene, smirking to themselves.

"That'll show ya!" Licorice called over his shoulder, even as he wiped a line of blood off of his split lip.

All of the reply he got was a pointed silence from the unmoving pile of garbage now sitting in the middle of the street.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo

"YAHHHH!" Luffy crowed, breaking free of the heavy, dank trash weighing him down a few minutes later. Miscellaneous pieces of garbage went flying every which way and actually attracted a few stares as he stepped out of the garbage and then lent a hand to Nami. Although Nami was in far better shape than Luffy, who was covered head to toe in disgusting slime, dirt and food, she didn't look her best either. There were pieces of paper in her hair, an unpleasant brown stain on her shirt, and an unidentified string of goo hanging off of her leg.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew..." she was murmuring to herself, like a lone survivor of a terrible crash. "This is so _gross_!"

"Well, at least they didn't make us explode," Luffy pointed out. "I thought Hardcandy was supposed to be dangerous, but all we got was garbage poured on us,"

"Maybe it's because that wasn't Hardcandy, just her little badly dressed acolytes," Nami pointed out while brushing dirt off of her soiled mini skirt. "God, this is so embarrassing, I hope we don't run into any of the crew before we get cleaned off,"

"Yeah, but where are we gonna get cleaned off?" Luffy asked, sniffing himself delicately and then recoiling in violent disgust.

"I think it's time we asked our good friend Jon-Jon for a favor," Nami answered simply. "He owes us for this, and maybe he can give us some more clues about Hardcandy. Or maybe we can just beat the antidote out of him and forget about this stupid adventure,"

"I'm kinda interested in it now," Luffy admitted, rubbing his head awkwardly. "I want to meet Hardcandy Sweet and see if she's as bad as the rumors say!"

"Only you Luffy," Nami sighed, shaking her head. "All right then, let's go. Maybe if we go back to the Sandy Merman we'll find Jon Jon again, and we can use his shower or something."

"I don't know, I kind of like you with garbage in your hair. You look _exotic_!"

"Oh shut up."

Author's Notes:

Hardcandy Sweet. I really like that name. I wish my parents had been a bit more creative and given me a kick ass name like that. I hope this story didn't bore you to death, I know the plot isn't extremely interesting yet but I'm having fun with it and I can't wait to get to all of the hardcore Nami/Luffy fluff. Admittedly there won't be that much screen time for the rest of the crew, although I do have them in the next chapter. Please review and look out for chapter two!

xoxo

Rio Grande


	2. Twisting the Knife

Hey all, I don't own One Piece and enjoy. 

Warning: This chapter is a big piece of fluff.

OOOOOOOOOOO

**Sunset at Port Gold**

By Rio Grande

Chapter Two: Twisting the Knife

OOOOOOOOOOO

Luffy and Nami, determined to find a place to bathe before returning to the Going Merry for fear of the ridicule they would receive from their unforgiving crew, wandered the streets of Port Gold in search of Jon Jon. Nami had decided that if anyone owed them a nice bath, it was he. They brusquely entered the Sandy Merman while simultaneously ignoring the many quirked eyebrows and gagging noises they received. It was only to be expected considering they were covered head to foot in the contents of a particularly grimy dumpster.

They scanned the premises for a smallish boy with a very thin build, auburn hair and scared blue eyes, but Jon Jon was missing. Sighing, Nami collapsed into a chair and rested her head in her hands, before thinking better of it and putting her hands back on the table, away from her filthy hair.

"Great," she groaned. "How are we going to get clean now?"

"Don't give up yet, Nami. Jon Jon at least has to be easier to get a hold of then Hardcandy Sweet," Luffy pointed out. "Here, I'll ask the bartender."

Luffy walked up to the bar and stuck his face right in front of the mousy bartender from earlier that day, giving off a smile with teeth. The bartender looked mildly frightened and backed away, clasping his chest.

"You again? Sandwich boy. What do you want?" he asked, trying to air away Luffy's odorous stench with his hand.

"I gotta question for you," Luffy said. "Do you know a boy named Jon Jon?"

"Jon Jon...?" the bartender replied slowly. His expression darkened and he stepped away from the bar. "What do you want with him?"

"Then you do know him! Could you tell me where to find him, please?"

"WHAT do you want with Jon Jon?" the bartender repeated.

"Hey, that's our business, so why don't you just cooperate and tell us what we want to know," Nami said, stepping in. The bartender's scowl deepened and he reached under the bar for something just as the front doors swung open and in walked Jon Jon, head lowered.

"Heyy, Jon Jon!" Luffy sang happily.

"What the..." Jon Jon gasped, his effeminate eyes widening in surprise.

"Get away!" the bartender cried. "These people are after you!" Jon Jon's eyes immediately started darting around the room, as though he was looking for some sort of escape route, or someone to help him out.

"I don't think so..." Luffy said, stretching his arms out so that he could grasp Jon Jon by the collar and drag him back to the bar.

"Let go of him!" the bartender ordered, whipping out a small pistol from underneath the bar and cooly leveling it at Luffy.

"Uhhh..." Luffy said, staring stupidly at the barrel of the gun.

"No, YOU let go of that gun!" Nami cried, smacking the bartender over the head with her staff so that he collapsed to the ground, moaning.

"DAD!" Jon Jon cried, working up the gumption to wriggle out of Luffy's firm grip and then running around the bar to prop his father's head up. He was out cold. "Why did you have to go and do that?" he asked of Nami, tears prickling the edge of his eyes. "He's just an innocent old man,"

"Innocent?" Nami repeated incredulously. "He just had a gun aimed at Luffy's head!"

"It wouldn't have done anything to me, Nami," Luffy pointed out.

"That's not the point! Did the bartender know that?"

"Listen, he's sick and you've probably made it worse," Jon Jon continued, dragging his father towards a door at the back of the bar. "I've got to put him to bed now. Everyone clear out, we're closed for the night!" The few occupants of the bar looked at each other before grumbling in agitation and moving towards the exit. Nami and Luffy stood in place before nodding decidedly and following Jon Jon behind the door in the back.

The door led to a winding staircase that left the duo on the second floor of the old building. The entire floor was a modestly sized apartment, with a working kitchen, a living room, two bedrooms and of course a bathroom with a fully functioning tub. Nami began to shiver in anticipation at the sight of it.

"What are you doing here?" Jon Jon, who had carefully laid his elderly looking father out on the couch questioned sharply. "Can't you see I'm busy? I told you I wouldn't give you the antidote until you'd gotten that painting from me, and I know you haven't." Where as before Jon Jon had seemed timid and scared in front of the two pirates, worry for his father had made him much more blunt.

"Well, we need a bath and we figured we could take one at your house," Luffy explained, shrugging. "We sort of had garbage poured on us by Hardcandy's men."

"I see," Jon Jon sighed. "So you haven't even found her yet, and you were beaten by her lackies. Maybe you're not as strong as the rumors said..."

"Hey, take that back!" Luffy growled.

"Yeah, do you want our help or not?" Nami questioned, folding her arms. Jon Jon regarded them in silence for a minute, before lowering his head and nodding slowly.

"Yeah... you can use the bathroom to your right."

"Great, I'm first!" Nami said excitedly. "Oh... and I'm sorry about your dad, is he going to be all right? I didn't mean to hit him that hard..."

"You probably didn't, he's just really weak. He's dying, you see," Jon Jon explained tonelessly. Nami and Luffy exchanged nervous glances, suddenly feeling guilty for no apparent reason other than the obvious one that they had knocked Jon Jon's ailing father unconscious.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Luffy asked earnestly.

"Yeah, get me that painting," Jon Jon replied flatly.

"How is THAT going to help your sick father?" Nami asked.

"Well, my mother was a painter," Jon Jon said, jerking his head at a wall. Soon both Luffy and Nami noticed for the first time that the otherwise minimally furnished apartment was covered in beautiful oil paintings. Most of them were pictures of things found around Port Gold itself. "But she died when I was little, and my father really never got over it. She was mildly famous in her day though, and her best painting by far was 'Port Gold in Spring.'

"You see, Port Gold didn't always used to be this corrupt and dangerous. Once upon a time it sold gold as its main export and people prospered and lived happily. My mother painted a picture of it almost twenty years ago now, before Hardcandy and her posse moved in. Those were the best days of my father's life, when he still had his business and my mother, and neither were tainted by Hardcandy.

"But after Hardcandy took over, she stole my mother's painting from the house and liked it so much she wouldn't give it back. My mom was so heartbroken she stopped painting and eventually died. My father has never been the same since then, either... and now that the doctor has told him he's terminal, all he's been asking for is that painting. I know Hardcandy still has it because it's worth a lot, and I really just want to let my dad see it once more before he goes. He doesn't have much time left now..."

Luffy looked moved as Jon Jon concluded his sad tale, his expression morose. Nami seemed to be slightly effected, but clearly had not let all of her guards down yet.

"That's a really sad story Jon Jon, and I'm honestly sorry for you, but do you really think your father would be happy to know that you got him that painting back by poisoning an innocent boy and making him do your dirty work?" she asked coldly. Luffy looked at Nami with wide eyes, surprised at her harshness.

"W-well no..." Jon Jon admitted, looking down and regaining some of his insecurity. "But how else can I trust you guys, you're pirates!"

"Whatever, it's still dishonorable," Nami hissed, spinning around and marching to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her, and both Jon Jon and Luffy flinched as she did so. Luffy whistled.

"Wow, you sure got her mad,"

"Yeah, but she's right." Jon Jon admitted in a small voice. "It's wrong to make you do this for me, but I... I don't care! My father needs to see that painting before he dies!" Luffy smiled down at Jon Jon, and patted his head with one large hand.

"Don't worry, he will. I'll make sure of it,"

"Why aren't you mad at me like your partner? You're the one who's poisoned, after all!" Jon Jon said.

"Well, Nami's got her own issues to deal with, as well..."

OOOOOOOO

Some time later, Nami stretched herself out on a bed in the guest room Jon Jon had assigned to her and Luffy, listening to the sound of her friend splashing around in his own bath. Outside the sun had set long ago, and a few stars were spattered across the smoggy, dark sky. She was wrapped in a fluffy robe she had dug up in the linen closet, and had been keeping a healthy distance away from Jon Jon and his father. Both men were in the living room while Jon Jon put an ice pack to his father's head, and if the bartender was conscious Nami could only assume Jon Jon was trying to explain away why he had invited two dangerous pirates to stay the night in their house. She really didn't want to deal with that boy.

'He's so pathetic,' Nami thought to herself, frowning at the chipped ceiling and pushing her wet hair away from her neck. She smelled like soap and shampoo after so many weeks of smelling like salt and sweat, and she found it relaxed her like nothing else. 'Using poor Luffy to help himself because he's too chicken to stand up to Hardcandy. It's despicable.'

Her frown deepened as she sat up and drew her legs to her chest, heaving a sigh. 'I don't know why Luffy is being nice to him. His life is at stake, and I'm so worried! How can he be so calm and collected about stuff like this? I guess... I guess that's why he's the captain and I'm just a navigator.'

Nami was just about to take a little nap when the sound of the bathroom door opening reached her ears, and she looked up to see Luffy with a small white towel wrapped around his waist walk into the room. The young girl gasped slightly at the sight of his nicely tanned, muscled torso and arms, realizing that she had never seen Luffy wearing so little in her whole time as a crew member of the Going Merry. Luffy wasn't smiling, and she bit her lip and looked away when she finally managed to get her eyes off of his surprisingly attractive chest and realized he had noticed her staring. Had she bothered to turn around again she would have seen Luffy giving himself an almost self-congratulatory smile.

"Ahhh, I feel much better!" he declared, stretching his arms. "No more terrible garbage smell."

"Y-yeah," Nami agreed, still averting her gaze and trying to figure out why seeing Luffy half naked was making her heart rate increase. When she heard Luff's wet towel fall to the ground, and realized that he was dressing right behind her, she wondered if it was possible for someone to actually turn so red they stayed that way permanently. Resisting the urge to take a quick peek, she began to speak while staring fixedly at the wall opposite her.

"So are we going to go back to the Going Merry soon? I really don't feel like staying in this slime ball's house much longer,"

"We can if you want, but why are you so angry at Jon Jon? I mean, he didn't even poison YOU," Luffy pointed out as he pulled on his boxers.

"Because I care about you and I'm mad that he hurt you!" Nami shouted before she could stop her self. Gasping, she bit her lip and turned around slowly to see Luffy's reaction. She blushed and mentally bashed herself across the head when she realized that, firstly, he only had his boxers on and his legs were amazing, and secondly, he was smiling knowingly at her. That jerk.

"You care about me Nami, really?" he pressed devilishly.

"Well of course. You're part of my crew, right?" she said quickly, trying to cover up her overly revealing sentence. No one besides herself needed to know that her feelings for the rubber man had begun to change ever since he saved her from Alabasta, and even then she really didn't need to think about it too much herself. It was disconcerting.

"Is that the only reason you're mad at Jon Jon?" Luffy asked, something in his voice telling Nami that he didn't think so. When she heard the sound of him buttoning his pants she figured it was safe to turn around again, and did so with a scowl adorning her pretty features.

"Well of course it is! That's more then enough reason to dislike him, too! Poisoning you is no small thing, Luffy. And I think that – Luffy?" Nami squeaked, for the first time noticing that her captain was turning a few peculiar shades of purple, and was shaking from head to toe.

"Oh my God, Luffy!" she cried, jumping off the bed and attempting to cushion his fall as he collapsed like a deck of cards, grasping his stomach. He was panting and his eyes were opened painfully wide.

"T-the poison..." Luffy gasped harshly. "Don't w-w-worry, it's just an effect of the poison."

"Don't WORRY?" Nami cried, walking Luffy over to the bed and lying him down. "Look at you! You're dying! I've never seen you sick before! I'm going to go out there and get the antidote from Jon Jon right now."

"No Nami, it's all right. I'm fine..."

"The hell you are. Jon Jon, get over here!" Nami yelled, throwing open the door and marching into the living room. She stopped short when she realized she was alone, and quickly spotted a note sitting on the kitchen counter.

'Took my Dad to the doctor's for a checkup, see you tomorrow at sundown.

-Jon Jon'

"See you tomorro- that little rat! He ran away!" Nami growled, crumpling up the letter and throwing it against a nearby wall. She turned and saw Luffy hobbling into the room, having overheard Nami's dialogue.

"Relax Nami, I just had a little attack. Look, it's practically gone now, I feel fine." Luffy assured her, resting his hands on Nami's shoulders and flashing his trademark smile, accompanied by a little goofy sound effect.

"That's not the point," Nami sniffled, tears of frustration standing out in her eyes. "He shouldn't do this to you... it's not right."

"Think of it this way, now we've got the whole place to ourselves!"

"Luffy!" Nami gasped indignantly.

"What?" the boy asked, cocking his head. Nami stared at him pointedly for a minute, before realizing that he really didn't mean what she had thought he meant. She shook her head ruefully, half relieved and half disappointed. How could she have thought anything like that? Luffy was practically a-sexual...

"Never mind... I guess you're right. It will be nice to have actual beds to crash on instead of just cabin bunks. But what about the crew, won't they wonder where we are?" Nami asked.

"Aw, they'll be fine. I just want to sleep on a real comfortable bed!" Luffy explained, but Nami knew it was more than that. He didn't want to worry the crew with his weakened state, and probably figured it was best to avoid the rest of the Going Merry until he had sorted out the whole mess. Nami smiled inwardly at Luffy's selflessness. It was one of her favorite things about him.

"Seriously though, Nami," Luffy said quietly, turning away from the redhead and looking at a random painting on the wall. "Don't be so harsh on Jon Jon, he's just getting by the only way he can in a real bad situation..."

"He should be handling it differently! It's not your fault his mother had her prized possession stolen!" Nami argued heatedly.

"Do you think..." Luffy started slowly, glancing at Nami over his shoulder. "...that maybe you hate Jon Jon so much because he reminds you a little bit of... yourself?"

OOOOOOOO

By the time Usopp made it back to the Going Merry it was already fairly far into the evening. He hunkered up to the pirate ship with a large bag of supplies slung over his shoulder, a light sheen of sweat standing out on his forehead. When he got close enough he noticed that there were lights gently flickering aboard the ship, meaning others had also made it back.

The gangly man climbed up the walkway and then chucked the bag he had been shouldering unceremoniously to the ground, gaining the attention of his fellow crew mates. Sitting on the deck at a candlelit table were Chopper and Robin, with Sanji poking his head out of a door that led to the kitchens. Robin was sipping elegantly from a glass of wine, and there were mouth watering smells emanating from the direction of Sanji's kitchen.

"Hey guys," Usopp greeted in his slightly wobbly alto as he took a seat next to Chopper.

"You're just in time for dinner," Sanji said, ducking back into the kitchen but leaving the door open so he could he could be heard over the boiling water. "Have you seen the others?"

"No, I was actually wondering why they weren't back yet,"

"You know how Zoro gets," Sanji said. "He's probably found the only dojo in this whole port and is practicing his moves out on some unsuspecting masters. Either that or he fell asleep somewhere and was too lazy to make it back,"

"That doesn't explain Nami and our captain," Chopper pointed out.

"No, and I sincerely hope that beautiful Nami is all right," Sanji said, glancing out at the port nervously. It was eerily dark at night, but quite loud. He could hear the raucous yells of the town drunkards from the ship. "It is not safe to be out alone in this place,"

"She's not alone, I saw her leave with Luffy," Chopper said. "If anyone can keep her safe, it's him."

"Even so, I hope we don't stay in this place any longer than is necessary. It has a bad feel to it," Sanji explained darkly.

"Well, it's not the cleanest or nicest town I've ever been to, but I got most of the shopping done today. I only have a few things left for tomorrow!" Usopp said happily.

"I got some wonderful, rare history books when I went out," Robin admitted, reaching into her bag and pulling out a particularly musty and heavy tome. "I can't wait to get started on them tomorrow. This place truly does end up collecting some fascinating items."

"For now, I think everyone should relax and enjoy the king crab I've prepared. I've never seen such large crustaceans in my life," Sanji said, stepping out of the kitchen with a full platter of crabs in his arms. Everyone's eyes widened, and Usopp started to drool.

"Wow, those guys sure are unlucky, missing a feast like this!"

"Quite."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After Luffy's bold statement, Nami felt herself go rigid, unable to look him in the eye even as he turned around with the most understanding expression on his face. She brought a hand to her cheek and took a step back, shaking her head.

"No I... that's not what I ... meant," she muttered lamely.

"Nami?" Luffy questioned, watching sadly as his navigator stumbled back to the guest room, silent.

Nami had never really gotten a chance to say what she felt about the entire Alabasta fiasco after it was over. She and Luffy had never had any sort of heart to heart about the awkward and traumatic events that had taken place, and Nami had barely even let herself remember how she had betrayed her friends and was manipulated like a worthless pawn.

Maybe it was because of this that she hadn't drawn the parallel between herself and Jon Jon, where Luffy was able to see it so clearly. She paused once she made it to the guest room, clenching and unclenching her hands, taking in shaky breaths and willing herself to calm down.

Had she even ever properly thanked Luffy for what he had done for her? For the colossal gift of freedom he had bestowed upon her? Probably not. The events after the fall of Alabasta were mostly a blur for her, but she was pretty certain she could not remember once walking up to Luffy and simply thanking him from the bottom of her heart.

'I'm no better then Jon Jon...' she thought to herself despairingly. 'No... I'm worse. At least Jon Jon never led us on and made us think he was something he wasn't. He wasn't THAT depraved.'

"Nami...?" Luffy questioned again in an uncharacteristically soft voice, opening the door to her room and finding her curled up on the bed. Her pale form and white robe stood out strongly against the navy blue sheets around her. Luffy came to stand over Nami, peering down at her with a concerted look on his features. "Aw, come on Nami. Don't be that way... I didn't mean to make you mad,"

"Please Luffy, go away..." Nami requested, thoroughly disgusted with herself. Her voice was partially muffled by the pillow she had stuffed her face in, and she gasped when she felt it get wrenched away from her. "Luffyyyy..." she moaned.

"Nami don't be so hard on yourself," Luffy said simply. "You're not a bad person."

"Yes, I am, actually," Nami insisted, sitting up straight and staring Luffy in the eyes. "I am a terrible person! I never even... I never got to..."

"Got to what?"

"Thank you, the way I should... for saving me," she whispered, ashamed. "You're so brave and selfless Luffy. I never would have even stood up for myself, were I in your position. And now I've been ungrateful, and haven't been able to pay you back at all..." She didn't need to explain what events she was referring to, she knew Luffy would be able to tell what she was talking about. Whether or not he chose to continue the discussion was another matter entirely.

"You're not supposed to pay me back Nami," Luffy explained with a small grin on his face, as though teaching a lesson to a slow child. "I saved you because I like you, and I wanted you to stay the way you were. And you did! We got our Nami back same as she always was, and everything was perfect,"

"But it's not fair, it's not fair that you should forgive me so fast after what I did." Nami insisted, unable to accept Luffy's overwhelming generosity. Besides the fact that it was overly kind, it was too much of a burden for her to carry. That someone would risk their life for her just because they liked her as a person was a notion too heady to shoulder. "You're right, I am just like Jon Jon. Using other people to solve my own stupid problems,"

Nami felt the mattress dip slightly as Luffy took a seat next to her, and was surprised when he put an arm around her shoulder, his grip comforting and frightening at the same time. She cautiously looked at him from the corner of her eye while she knotted her hands in her lap. She couldn't believe she was breaking down like this.

"Nami, I don't regret what happened at Arlong Park, okay? And I'd do it again, without you asking, if it meant keeping you safe. Don't you see Nami? You're really important to the crew. Who would keep everyone in line if you weren't around? Or navigate our ship, and get us to the Grand Line? And, Nami...

"You're really important to me."

Nami resisted the urge to gasp. Never before had Luffy opened up to her, and she found that a part of her was eating everything up like a hungry dog. How long had she waited to share a moment like this with her captain? How long had she waited to crack that rubber exterior of his?

"Luffy..." she said, turning around so that she was facing him. "You're really important to me, too. You're the most important," She knew she was stumbling over her words awkwardly, not sure how to phrase what she needed to say without sounding stupid or over the top... but Luffy really was the most important person in her life. She couldn't think of anyone else who came before him, and it was about time she told him so.

Luffy was smiling wider than she had ever seen before, his eyes twinkling merrily. He tackled her in a bear hug that threw her back onto the bed, knocking the wind out of her and leaving them both tangled together in sheets.

"Luffy," she chortled. "I think we just had a bonding moment,"

"Yeah!" he agreed enthusiastically. "We did! We should try it again some time!" Then Nami was full out laughing, pressing her hands to her eyes to cover the fact that she was weeping simultaneously. It was as though there had been some great burden lifted from her chest, and yet the feeling she was left with was almost bitter sweet. How could Luffy make her laugh so easily? Everything he said was like putting the world through a Luffy Machine and then having it be spat out in a much simpler form you were amazed you had never considered before he came along.

She felt her hands get pulled away from her eyes, and looked up to see Luffy hovering over her and staring at the tears that were falling down the sides of her temples and onto the bed in confusion. Bizarrely, she chose that moment to notice that his straw hat was gone, resting on the floor beside the bed.

"Nami?" he asked questioningly.

"Forget it..." she said, pulling him back down towards her. "It doesn't matter..."

Luffy's head was lowered dangerously close to her own so she could find her reflection in his dark eyes, not at all surprised to see that she seemed somewhat frightened. Part of her had no idea why she was wrapping her arms around Luffy's shoulders and licking her lips, and another part of her was cheering with wild enthusiasm.

"Okay..." Luffy mumbled, his nose brushing hers slowly. His face seemed much more mature and focused all of the sudden, and she could have sworn his tone had seemed almost needy. Nami closed her eyes when she felt his warm breath on her face, an endless mantra ringing in her head. 'Omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod...'

"...we should go to bed," Luffy finished, abruptly rolling off of the smaller girl and turning away from her, so that he was curled up facing the door.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked, stung. She propped herself up on her elbow and touched Luffy's shoulder. Had she been wrong? Had he not wanted that? She had thought when she saw his eyes that there had been desire in them as well... but maybe...

"I-I'm fine," Luffy gritted, one large hand clutching his own shoulder so that his fingers turned white. Nami gasped when she realized that her captain was in actual pain, and remembered yet again that he was still suffering the effects of Jon Jon's poison.

"Oh God Luffy, do you need anything? Water, um, an ice pack... something?" she questioned, panicking. First aid was not her forte, and she had no idea how to alleviate Luffy's pain at that moment. "Maybe we should go back to the ship and get Chopper..."

"No!" Luffy said firmly, uncurling from the protective ball he had been in and rolling over. "I just seize up like that occasionally, it's nothing too bad," he assured her, but Nami could see a beads of sweat standing out on his forehead.

"It's not right... this isn't right," Nami mumbled to herself.

"We don't need the crew to find out about this and come down on Jon Jon, he deserves a chance to prove himself, doesn't he?" Luffy asked Nami seriously, putting a hand on her shoulder and looking deep into her eyes. Nami realized what he was getting at, and had no choice but to acquiesce.

"Yeah, he does," she said, wondering if this experiment with Jon Jon was as much for herself as it was for Luffy. He said he forgave her, and had never actually been angry about everything that had happened, but... if Jon Jon didn't prove himself to be a genuinely good person at the end of all this, what did it say about her own character? Was Luffy even thinking of the situation that way, or was she just incredibly neurotic?

"Great. Let's get some sleep, tomorrow's gonna be crazy," Luffy said, pulling the sheets up from under he and Nami. Nami stared at him in silent horror.

"Y-you're sleeping here? With me?" she asked, very quietly. She had assumed he would be returning to the other bedroom, eventually.

"Sure, why not?" Luffy asked, staring at Nami. At first glance Luffy's face seemed to be as it always was in these sorts of situations; adorably dumbfounded, not comprehending the gravity of what he was doing. However, when Nami took a closer look she swore she could detect a hint of playfulness flickering in his expression, as though he was struggling to play dumb. She blinked, shocked, before letting a smirk of her own slip onto her face. All right, two could play at that game...

"No reason," she chirped happily, snuggling under the covers and resting her head on Luffy's chest as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "G'night!"

"'Night," Luffy replied, blowing out the candle next to the bed and then relaxing. Nami was pleased to hear that his heart was beating a bit more erratically than usual – although the same could be said for her own.

'Ha,' she thought triumphantly, loving the feel of Luffy's firm chest against her cheek.

The rest of the night went by in relative peace, Luffy eventually gaining the courage to wrap one of his long arms around Nami's shoulders, and Nami making sure to hold Luffy's hand extra tight whenever she detected another poison induced fit coming on, understanding that her presence helped to calm him down.

OOOOOOOOO

When the sun rose the next morning, light shone in through the window of Jon Jon's apartment and woke Luffy from his sleep. He blinked a few times in confusion, realizing that for the first time in many months he was not sleeping in his cabin on his ship. And, for the first time in his life, he woke up with a girl in his arms. It wasn't that Luffy had never had sex before, it was just that he had never shared a bed with any woman before. And now he had gone and done the opposite with Nami, but he found that it pleased him immensely.

Luffy's night had been an odd combination of the worst, and best sleep of his life. The worst because he woke up every other hour with bone rattling seizures from the poison (it seemed as though when he wasn't physically engaged the attacks came more frequently.) and the best because every time it happened Nami was immediately there to soothe him, and then they just got to hold each other for a while. This was an activity Luffy was currently moving to the top of the list of things he loved to do best in the world, and it was slighted only by eating meat, and being a pirate.

He stared at Nami in abject adoration for a full five minutes before shaking her awake, wanting to get as early a start on the day as possible because he realized that his body might not be good for much as time went on. The eighteen year old navigator made a few gurgled protests before her eyes snapped open in surprise, and she too realized just where she was, and who was holding her in their arms.

"Luffy..." she breathed in her usual, husky morning voice.

"Hey!" he replied simply.

After that there was an awkward period where Nami and Luffy laughed uneasily and edged out of bed, not sure what to say to one another. Just as Nami was deliberating whether or not to change out of her robe in front of Luffy, since he seemed to have had no qualms with changing in front her, Luffy made the decision easy for her by saying he was going to start breakfast and then exiting the room. Nami found herself somewhat relieved; what she and Luffy had done last night had been a breakthrough, for sure, but it didn't mean she was ready to strip for him, either.

Of course, what exactly last night had meant for the two pirates wasn't really clear to Nami, either. They hadn't actually said anything soul bearing except for a few childish 'I really like you's, and although the experience had certainly left Nami with the knowledge that she found Luffy sexually attractive on some level and obviously had more then just friendly feelings for him... what her captain felt in return was an entirely different matter all together. Inwardly sighing, and wishing she were the type of person who could easily talk out relationship issues such as this, or even that Luffy was a bit more mature, Nami finished dressing and decided it would be better to work on the bigger problems in her life, first. Finding Hardcandy Sweet and getting an antidote for Luffy being pretty obvious ones.

It hadn't really hit Nami just how worried for Luffy she was until last night when he started having visible attacks. They scared her, mostly because she could do nothing to help Luffy when they happened, and because Luffy was completely defenseless himself, something she rarely saw.

'And he's willing to go along with Jon Jon, and get his painting for him, even after everything he's done...' Nami thought to herself, shaking her head. 'That idiot. He shouldn't have such faith in people,' But even Nami knew she didn't really mean it.

In the kitchen Luffy was making an omelet. Or, he was trying to, anyway. The eggs seemed to have missed the pan a bit, and had instead landed on places like the counter, the floor, Luffy's face, the windows, the ceiling... Nami was still marveling over the fact that Luffy had managed to get egg yoke to drip from the ceiling in the short period of time she had spent dressing, when she noticed him trying to put a whole half of a green pepper in the grimy pan he was using for his omelet.

"Uh, no! Stop!" she exclaimed, rushing forward and taking the pan from Luffy before he caused more damage to the kitchen. She grimaced when she realized the pan's handle was slick with raw egg as well.

"What's the matter?" Luffy asked imploringly. Nami forced a smile.

"Well, it looks like you've got a great start here on breakfast, Luffy, but why don't you go clean yourself off and let me finish. Okay?"

"All right, if you want to," Luffy said, shrugging his shoulders and wandering off.

By the time Luffy returned, clean, Nami had straightened out the kitchen as best she could and had one large omelet cooking away. With all of the eggs Luffy had wasted, it was all they had left, so Nami decided they would split it.

"Are you feeling any better?" Nami asked of Luffy as they quickly inhaled breakfast. She knew it was a stupid question, because if anything Luffy's condition was only going to get worse, but she couldn't help asking about him. Luffy nodded vigorously, but did not look Nami in the eye.

"I'm GREAT!" he crowed. But Luffy was nothing if not the perfect stoic, and Nami could tell he was not great, at all.

'We've got to find Hardcandy, right NOW.' she thought determinedly.

"That was delicious if I do say so myself! Now let's go," she said abruptly, jumping to her feet and clapping her hands together with determination.

The two were on the street in a matter of minutes, deciding to snoop around the area near the Cursed Pearl bar, where, if all else failed, they knew they could find Hardcandy at five.

"Maybe she lives around here," Nami said once they arrived.

So they had started questioning locals in the area about Hardcandy. They really didn't care if her henchman came after them once more for snooping, because the overgrown lollipops could potentially lead them to Hardcandy, and this time they would make sure not to get caught with the dumpster trick again.

"Oh, are you those folks from the Straw Hat Crew who are looking for Hardcandy?" one woman taking out her laundry asked, looking slightly frightened. She checked all around her to make sure no one was paying attention to their conversation, and even then spoke in very low tones. The pirates were beginning to get used to this sort of reaction, but her words confused them.

"Yeah, how did you know that?" Nami asked.

"Oh, everyone's heard about it by now. Hardcandy has it out for you – she thinks you're moving in on her territory and has decided to get rid of your crew,"

"Wow, news travels fast," Nami commented.

"Does that mean she's going to come after us personally?" Luffy wondered, looking slightly happy at the prospect.

"Well, maybe..." the woman said, unsure as to why the two young people looked so thrilled to hear that a dangerous crime boss wanted them dead.

"This could be a real breakthrough Luffy! Maybe if we draw enough attention to ourselves she'll fall right into our laps," Nami gushed eagerly.

"Yeah, I just hope her men don't bother the rest of the crew. They don't know what's going on," Luffy said.

"Aw, they can take care of themselves. Besides, they're pirates, I doubt they'll be surprised if locals come and try to harass them. It happens often enough anyway," Nami pointed out.

"Haha, that's true!" Luffy laughed, pulling his straw hat down further over his eyes. He turned and started to walk away when Nami noticed his back go rigid, and heard him suck in a rather violent gulp of air.

"Luffy," she said urgently, coming to stand by him and taking his large hand in her smaller one. He was having another attack, but she had started to learn how to properly help him through these episodes. "Breath, okay?" It took a few minutes, longer than last night, but Luffy eventually regained control of his body and stood up straight once more, shaking his head almost unconsciously.

"Whoo, sorry about that," he said goofily.

"You don't have to be sorry," Nami said sincerely. Luffy's smile slipped off of his face almost unconsciously, and he looked down at Nami with an odd gleam in his eyes.

"Nami, I..."

"DIE, FREAKS!" a hysterical voice pierced through Nami and Luffy's little moment like a pop song in a monastery, and both teens glanced fearfully upwards to see none other than Twizzler and Licorice glaring down at them from the apartment they were standing next to. A whizzing sound passed by Luffy's head and he let his eyes snap briefly to the side to observe the red and white striped arrow now embedded in the doorway next to him. Looking up, he found that Twizzler had his crossbow aimed at he and Nami, and Licorice was swinging his bubble gum ball and chain over his head threateningly.

"Gyahh!" Nami gasped, jumping behind Luffy fearfully. "What is it with those guys and roofs? I swear to god if they try and throw garbage on us again..."

"Don't worry Nami, they won't get a chance to!" Luffy declared, propelling the upper half of his body forward so that he stretched out all the way to the roof of the three story building. "Heyyy!" he greeted the two gangsters, grinning maniacally and creating an altogether disturbing picture.

"God, you really area a freak!" Twizzler screeched, firing another arrow at Luffy that the rubber man easily took in to his stomach, and then shot back.

"JESUS!" Licorice cried, barely scrambling away from the arrow and then attempting a mad swing at Luffy with his chain. The chain managed to wrap itself around Luffy's thin neck, strangling the boy and forcing him to leap onto the roof as Licorice jerked the chain back with a quick thrust of his hand.

"Give 'em hell, Luffy!" Nami shouted from the ground, even as her friend was pulled from the street and onto the roof, his face a peculiar shade of blue.

Egged on by Nami's cries of encouragement, Luffy let a scowl settle onto his youthful features and he gripped the length of chain in front of him with both hands. A gurgled war cry was ripped from his throat as he used all of the strength in his elastic body to pull Licorice towards him. The slimy gangster looked shocked and slightly afraid, but refused to let go of his chain even as Luffy's tanned, scarred face was drawn closer and closer to his own.

"How the hell is a kid as skinny as you so freaking strong?" Licorice wanted to know as Luffy finally got him so close they were standing eye to eye. Luffy merely smiled all the wider, an evil sounding chuckle bubbling up from his throat.

Without warning Luffy violently head butted Licorice, and the man was so shocked that he reflexively let go of the chain, whimpering in pain as he fell backwards onto his butt. Luffy wasted no time unwinding himself and taking in a lung full of fresh air.

"Ahhh, much better!" he sang, even as another one of Twizzler's arrows hit him between the eyes. The arrow came to a halt momentarily as Luffy concentrated on keeping it in place, the back of his head stretched out as far as it would go to keep the deceptively tasty looking arrow from piercing through his skull. With a final grunt of effort, he thrust the arrow back at Twizzler.

"Even your HEAD is rubber?" Twizzler balked, disgusted. "Where do you keep your brain?"

"I don't know," Luffy admitted honestly. "I guess I don't have one anymore..."

"I'd have to agree with you," Licorice rasped, struggling to his feet and pointing over the edge of the apartment. Luffy got an uneasy feeling in his stomach as his eyes followed Licorice's finger "Because only a man with no brains would leave his girlfriend defenseless like you did,"

Peering over the edge, Luffy had his worst fears confirmed as he spotted Nami being handled by three other henchman into a horse-drawn carriage in the street. The carriage was shaped like a big, pink, marshmallow peep, and the horses were decked out in sparkling uniforms complete fake unicorn horns fastened to their heads.

"Luffy!" Nami cried before she was roughly shoved into the carriage, her hands tied behind her back with a big, blue ribbon. "I'm sorry..." Luffy said nothing, his eyes intense as he watched Nami's form disappear, and the the horses begin to move.

"Don't think of using any of your stretchy tricks to get her back, or we'll have our men knock her out – permanently," Twizzler threatened from behind Luffy as he and Licorice backed up towards the exit.

"If you ever want to see your navigator again you'll meet up with Hardcandy Sweet tonight at sundown, at her hideout. You understand?" Licorice sneered. Luffy said nothing, his expression shielded by his ever present straw hat, and the raven haired man growled with frustration. "Are you even listening to me you dolt?" he exclaimed.

"You better start running," Luffy said in a chillingly calm voice. "Or I may not be able to wait 'till sundown to kick your sorry asses!" The captain of the Going Merry screamed the last part of his statement, making Twizzler and Licorice jump in surprise, before they hurriedly ran out the door. They started chasing after the carriage and left one very ticked off rubber man oscillating with rage behind them, wondering if his body could hold out until sunset for the showdown with Hardcandy, or if he and Nami were in a bit over their heads. But, amidst all other confusion, there was one thing Luffy was now sure of.

It was time to find Jon Jon.

OOOOOOOOO

Author's Notes:

I noticed that someone said that they thought Luffy was out of character last time... well, I think he was definitely acting more like himself in this chapter, don't you? (---biting sarcasm.) I'm sorry but I just can't help it! Luffy is just one of those infuriatingly elusive characters who you just want to pin down and force to confess all of his inner most feelings, because that's the way his creator designed him so that people like me would keep reading the comic and watching the show and writing fanfics about a stupid rubber boy I have a ridiculous cartoon crush on. Anyway, I hope you had fun reading – next chapter is going to be a bit different, in that there's a big fat twist to the plot that I'm sure everyone will enjoy. (Nami wakes up – it was all a dream!) (No, no one would enjoy that plot twist. That would be dumb.) Thank you for wading through all of the musshiness of this chapter, and don't kill me for making Luffy and Nami's relationship move in fast forward. I'm just making up for the utter lack of romance on the show in my own pathetic way.

Also, I'm going on vacation this Friday for two weeks and may not be able to get to for a while, so if you don't see an update soon that's why. Sorry folks, I need to swim.

Peace,

Rio Grande.

p.s – to the person who lives near the Rio Grande – yo! That's so cool! I mean, I live no where near it, in fact I live in NYC, and I'm not even Hispanic... but I was like, wow, I like how Rio Grande sounds. And lots of other cool pennames are already taken... Thanks for reviewing!


	3. Jawbreaker

Hey all! 

I am in fact beginning this chapter before I leave for my trip, but as I do so I think it's only fair for everyone to know that I am so hung over that merely typing is giving me motion sickness. It's really horrible. But I am determined to get this chapter out, dammit.

Anyway, I am really happy that this fic is being so well reviewed, and by such cool people. I have a few responses, actually...

About Luffy having sex before – I just made that up, I highly doubt they talk about it in the show/comic. I decided to make an educated guess because he's eighteen and a pirate... I dunno, in my head it makes sense, but I can see how the notion would weird you out anyway.

And to spikemyangel, who pointed out that I was mixing up Alabasta and Arlong – THANK YOU! I always do that, it's the two A's... and yes it was a total mistake every time I did it. But you know what I was trying to say, yes?

And now the story. I don't own One Piece and enjoy!

OOOOOO

**Sunset at Port Gold**

By Rio Grande

Chapter Three: Jawbreaker

OOOOOO

Luffy had to admit that without Nami around, being a sleuth on a hunt for treasure wasn't easy. His mind just wasn't made for this kind of deductive work, but his worry for Nami outweighed his lack of confidence in his ability to piece together the big picture. He was just going to have to return to the Sandy Merman and hope that Jon Jon or his father would be about.

It took the young man a bit longer than it should have, and he may or may not have had to stop and ask for directions a few times, but he finally made it back to the bar. What he found there made his uncharacteristically grim demeanor disappear in a flash.

"Jon Jon!" he shouted joyously, spotting the short boy loitering around outside the bar, almost as though he was waiting for him. And when Jon Jon's head snapped around unusually fast at the sound of Luffy's voice before he came jogging up to the captain, it certainly seemed as though he might have been.

"Luffy, I have good news!" he said eagerly.

"And I have bad news! Nami's been kidnapped by Hardcandy Sweet - she wants to get rid of my crew!" Luffy replied.

"Oh my God..." Jon Jon said, looking horrified. "I am so sorry Luffy... but I don't know where Hardcandy Sweet's hideout is, so I don't know where she took Nami,"

"I know... but Jon Jon, I think maybe it's time you gave me that antidote," Luffy said seriously. "I'm gonna be no good to you if I keep getting weaker, and it looks like this might take longer than I thought,"

"I would..." Jon Jon said softly, averting his gaze almost guiltily. "But I don't have it right now..."

"What?" Luffy asked, confused.

"You see, the reason I told you I would give it to you at sundown was because I don't have the antidote prepared yet. It's going to take the local apothecary until tonight to finish it,"

"WHAT?" Luffy said again, this time with an added eye twitch.

"I'm sorry!" Jon Jon cried. "I was trying to hit your navigator with that poisno, because I thought you would be able to get the painting faster. And now everything is just messed up." Luffy tried not to blow up at Jon Jon for that last statement, and tell him how that explanation did NOT MAKE THE SITUATION BETTER.

"Jon Jon..." he said slowly, his straw hat dipping lower on his face.

"Yeah...?" Jon Jon asked in a small, scared voice, shrinking away from the pirate jerkily.

"... What good news did you have for me?"

"Oh! Well, I don't know where Hardcandy's hideout is... but I do know where she's keeping my mother's painting," Jon Jon explained proudly. Luffy nodded once at this information and then straightened his posture, his eyebrows knitted together in determination.

"Okay, lead me there."

OOOOOOOO

The carriage ride was a long, bumpy one – but for all Nami knew the horses could have been trotting in place because as soon as the door was closed someone had tied a blindfold around her face. She had spent the last fifteen minutes biting her lip and trying to look as unfazed by the whole situation as possible, while desperately hoping no one would notice or confiscate the staff strapped to her thigh, underneath her skirt.

When the horses finally came to a halt, Nami was thrown out of the carriage roughly by whoever it was who was sitting next to her. Then someone else had grabbed her by the elbow and led her into some sort of building, jerking her roughly upwards whenever there was a stair or an incline. Nami struggled along as best she could, every once in a while letting out misguided curses and threats.

"Let me go! You're gonna be sorry once my crew finds out what you've done with me... asshole!"

"I'd keep my mouth shut if I was you, missy," a man who might have been Licorice, but also might have been Twizzler, hissed in her general direction. "You're about to meet the boss, and she doesn't like upstarts," Nami wanted to reply snidely to that comment as well, but thought better of it at the last minute. She was really going to meet Hardcandy?

However, it seemed as though she might be spared this particular honor once the group had made it up the last flight of stairs. Everyone came to a halt and Nami heard someone approach them from the right.

"Change of plans," another male voice said in an authoritative tone. "Take the prisoner to the dungeon, Hardcandy's not ready,"

"Not ready?" Twizzler or Licorice growled.

"The dungeon?" Nami squeaked in trepidation.

"Yeah, she's out. We'll bring her back up when the time is right," the man continued, turning around and walking back down the hallway.

"Fine..." Twizzler or Licorice conceded, hauling Nami away.

After being shoved back down many flights of stairs, Nami finally reached what she could only assume was the lowest level of the building; the dungeons. The wooden floor turned into stone, and the temperature dropped at least ten degrees. Not to mention the smell worsened, a lot.

'If there's one thing I'm going to remember about Port Gold...' Nami thought despairingly. '...It's all of the horrible smells I've been forced to endure,'

Finally the blindfold was ripped from her face as she was pushed into a cell, and she was left blinking groggily into the darkness just as she heard the gates slam shut behind her. Spinning around she faced Twizzler and Licorice, both who were sporting matching evil grins.

"I bet you two feel pretty good about yourselves," she sneered contemptuously.

"Maybe," Twizzler agreed, twirling the keys to her cell around his fingers tauntingly.

"You're lucky the boss isn't ready to see you yet – it gives you a few more hours to live," Licorice said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Gee, be sure to give her my thanks," Nami spat sarcastically.

"Oh, you'll have your chance soon enough," Twizzler assured her before turning and walking away with Licorice right behind him. They slammed shut the door to the dungeons as they left, and Nami couldn't help but admit that she shuddered a bit when they did so, not liking the finality of the sound.

"Great..." she mumbled into her hands as she knelt on the ground and tried to regain her bearings. She hated being helpless.

Taking in a shaky breath she combed her fingers through her hair and looked up, getting the layout of the dungeons as best she could. She was in a small cell that couldn't be more than five feet across and six feet long, and basically the entire structure was made of dank stone in traditional dungeon style. She looked out of her cell and across the walkway, spotting another cell opposite hers. Crawling forward, she tried to see into the small room with the dim lighting the dungeons provided, her brown eyes widening when she spotted another human form lying on the floor.

"Jon Jon's dad?..." she whispered, shocked. "Hey... hey whatsurname! Mr. Bartender!" she called, admittedly excited to have another person with her in this terrible situation, no matter that he was a sickly old man whose name she had never bothered to get.

But the owner of the Sandy Merman didn't move in response to Nami's frantic calls, and immediately the girl turned pale at the thought that perhaps the he was actually dead. He certainly was sprawled out in an odd position, his head bent at an uncomfortable angle. Clutching the bars to her cell so that her knuckles turned white, Nami stared at the bartender until she was sure she noticed his chest moving up and down in a relatively steady beat.

Letting out a breath of relief she rocked back on her heals and smiled to herself. That had been close. Then, a confused look slipped onto her features and she glanced back at the man with curiosity. Just what was he doing there, anyway? Wasn't he supposed to be at the doctors? Did that mean that Hardcandy knew about Jon Jon's involvement with the Straw Hat Crew? Nami freely admitted to not caring overly much about Jon Jon's well being, but she had a feeling Luffy was going to go back to the little boy once she was gone, and if this situation put her captain in danger she would not be pleased.

'Be all right, Luffy...' Nami thought, leaning her back against the wall and staring up at the dark stone ceiling despondently. 'And try and save me while you're at it...'

OOOOOO

Jon Jon led Luffy through a multitude of streets and deep into Port Gold before they arrived at their destination. A rickety old house that actually appeared to have once been a fine old Victorian mansion before it was left to fend for itself against the elements. It was three stories and covered in vines so that most of the windows were sealed shut. The large, wooden front door was firmly chained closed with a mean looking padlock. Luffy regarded the house skeptically.

"Why is Hardcandy keeping your mother's painting here?" he asked, frankly.

"I don't know, I think this is where she hordes a lot of her treasure," Jon Jon said, shrugging his shoulders noncommittally. "A man who used to work for her told me about it this morning."

"Do you think she comes by here often?"

"I don't know... why, are you hoping to run into her?" Jon Jon asked incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I want to get Nami back," Luffy said honestly. "Her henchman told me to go to Hardcandy's hideout by sundown, but I'm hoping to run into them before that...plus, I don't know where her hideout is." At this point Luffy flexed his arm, frowning as he found that his muscles were starting to ache. Jon Jon noticed Luffy's frustrated expression and looked at the ground guiltily.

"Listen... how about while you do this I go to the doctor's and see if they can't speed up my order for your antidote,"

"That's sounds like a really good idea," Luffy said in all seriousness. "Where can I meet you?"

"Meet me on 7th and 15th Ave," Jon Jon said, turning and jogging off. He waved goodbye to Luffy before he sped around the corner. "Good luck!"

"Thaaaanks!" Luffy called after him, feeling his bad spirits lift just a little. He knew Jon Jon was a good person at heart, he was just a little misguided.

Turning back around Luffy started towards the house, his expression carefully neutral. The mansion looked innocent and dilapidated enough, but if this was indeed where Hardcandy Sweet was hoarding her treasure, Luffy knew it had to be pretty heavily booby trapped. Luckily, the pirate captain had experience with such things.

Stretching his neck out a bit, Luffy peered into a first floor window, brushing away some foliage with his nose. From what he could see through the cracked glass, the house appeared pretty normal on the inside as well. He was now staring at a parlor of some sort, with a piano and a few couches. Shrugging, Luffy returned his head to its proper position and took in a deep breath.

Silently, he stretched back his leg and let it shoot forward with a resounding snap. He crashed noisily through the door, showering splinters that could not pierce his rubber skin everywhere. When the dust settled he crept in through the new gaping hole in the door, peering all around the foyer of the house.

"Hellllooo?" he called into the darkness, walking forward and heading towards the stairs. There was no response to his call, and for this Luffy was partially thankful.

The house was pushed into shadow, and cobwebs hung like drapery from the ceiling and the banister of the grand staircase that spiraled up to the second floor.

"Here?" Luffy asked aloud as he popped his head into the kitchens of the first floor. No painting.

"Here?" he asked as he swung his wiry neck around and into the the dining room. No painting.

"Here?" he asked, his neck stretched to the maximum limit as he curved it around two corners and finally into the main living room. In this room there was indeed a rather large painting, but Luffy had a feeling it was not Port Gold in Spring. It was a rather large portrait of a husband and wife, smiling down at the young man as he let the rest of his body catch up with his face. He stood in front of the painting, observing the man in the picture for an extended period of time.

"Hey, he's familiar..." Luffy mumbled to himself, realizing there was something he was missing, and thinking that perhaps it would be easier for him to put the pieces of the puzzle together if only Nami was with him.

But thinking of Nami reminded Luffy that he had work to do, and so far he had not found any trace of the painting or even any other treasure that Hardcandy Sweet was hiding. "She must have it hidden somewhere," Luffy deduced, sighing and realizing that this was going to be a bit harder than he had first assumed. This was, after all, a rather large house, and there were plenty of places Hardcandy could have stowed a little painting.

Luffy was about to head upstairs when he ran into the first booby trap.

"AHHHH!" the brave captain commented as he placed his foot on the first step, only to two rather large axes burst through the walls on either side of him and came swinging down towards his thin midsection. Stretching himself so that his stomach arched forward and missed being sawed in half, Luffy leapt up the next few stairs, staring behind him as the axes continued to swing violently in place. A small, triumphant smirk appeared on his scarred face.

"So, it's upstairs, hu?" he said softly. Giggling maniacally to himself Luffy skipped up the rest of the stairs, narrowly dodging the old metal spears that were spat at him from the banister, and latching onto a chandelier ten feet above him with his elongated arms when the staircase itself flattened out and threatened to slide him back down to the first floor.

"They really don't want me to make it to the second floor," Luffy noticed, still grinning. "Well it's too bad because that's where I want to go!" That said, he swung onto the landing of the second floor, bracing himself for any sort of attack for a minute before slowly straightening out. Nothing had happened.

"Hmm..." Luffy mumbled disapprovingly. He liked surprises, but the ones this house were offering him were starting to get old. Cautiously, he opened the first large set of doors the second floor presented, nearly coughing as he was assaulted with a wave of grime and dust. No one had entered this room in years.

Rubbing his eyes, Luffy blinked into the new room. It seemed like some sort of master bedroom, with a canopy bed and even a fireplace in the corner. Luffy took in a sharp breath as he noticed that there was a painting above the fireplace with a gold label nailed into its frame. He scurried up to it and nearly shouted for joy when he read the title of the finely made landscape.

'Port Gold in Spring.'

And in small script in the corner of the painting Luffy noticed that there was a signature as well. 'Lillian Willith.'

"Must be Jon Jon's mom," Luffy observed, reaching up to pluck the painting from the wall. He had to admit, it was a very beautiful painting, and it certainly made it look as though Port Gold had maybe used to be a bit more of a nice tourist spot then it was now – but the pirate in him couldn't see why everyone was making such a big fuss about something that wasn't gold.

'I guess you could trade it in for gold...' he decided as his fingers grazed the frame carefully. However, the moment he did so, the floor gave out from beneath him and he felt himself falling far into the pits of the house, caught by the last trap. Before he had time to scream, he hit the bottom and was impaled upon the gleaming spikes that had been eagerly awaiting his arrival.

OOOOOOOO

Robin turned another page of the book she was reading, a novel entitled 'A People's History of Port Gold.' It was always good to familiarize yourself with your surroundings, as she'd found it. She took a sip of the lemonade she had prepared for herself. Then she looked up and spotted yet another colorfully dressed man she had correctly labeled as some sort of gangster attempt to scurry by the ship undetected. She turned another page of her book, and sighed.

This had been going on all day. Scary looking men dressed in suits all different colors of the rainbow had been trying to stake out the Going Merry in secret, although the woman had no idea how they intended to do that wearing the outfits they were. They were certainly not very discrete.

'Has some odd, local crime group decided to challenge the Straw Hat Pirates?' she wondered to herself as she rolled her shoulders and flicked a lock of raven hair over her shoulder nonchalantly. It didn't really matter either way to her, if they had. These men were obviously no match for her, much less her comrades. Still... if her friends were out in the city with no knowledge that these people had their eyes on them, it could be troublesome.

'Maybe I should try and warn everyone,' she thought to herself, becoming mildly disconcerted when she realized she had no way to do so. The crew was not very organized in that sense.

"How long have they been at this?" a deep, scratchy voice reached Robin's ears. She glanced upwards to see Sanji standing above her while cooly smoking a cigarette and gazing at the fruity men outside in annoyance. Robin blinked and then looked back down at her book.

"Roughly all day," she replied.

"I'm not really worried about us, but Luffy, Nami and Zoro have been missing for a day. You don't think...?" Sanji trailed off suggestively. Robin frowned ever so slightly.

"I don't know. I certainly hope not, and I have enough confidence in our crew to believe that they would be able to defend themselves against these jokers, but... their disappearance is odd." she admitted. Sanji nodded grimly and took another drag.

"My thoughts exactly," Robin glanced at him, cocking an eyebrow.

"What are you planning?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing yet..." he admitted. "Do you have any ideas, lovely Robin?"

Robin smiled, and looked back down at her book coyly.

OOOOOOOO

At the bottom of the deadly pit, Luffy stayed perfectly still. Then he began to grit his teeth, and tensed his hands and feet that had been used to brace his fall on the walls of the pit. Ever so slowly, he wrenched himself off of the spikes that had been meant to finish him off.

His body snapped back into its normal shape once he lifted himself up far enough, and he quickly got to scrambling up the sides of the pit. Panting and wincing in mild pain, he finally made it back out to the second floor again. No longer grinning, Luffy growled and swiftly plucked the painting from the wall. He tucked it under his arm and stalked out of the room in silence.

That had been annoying. And confusing. That house... didn't seem to hold any traces of Hardcandy. No pretty colors, no candy decorations. There wasn't even any other treasure. It just seemed as though this had used to be someone's house, only it had been firmly locked down long ago.

Exiting the mansion with one long sigh of 'good riddance!' Luffy went to the main gates and prepared to find Jon Jon. He looked at the position of the sun and frowned when he realized that it was around 4:30... not that long until sunset.

Wincing as another seizure came upon him, Luffy knelt on the ground while taking in deep breaths. This was no good... Jon Jon had better have that antidote for him, or he didn't know what might happen. Struggling to his feet Luffy hobbled off in the direction of what he hoped was 7th and 15th Ave, wishing not for the last time that Nami was around. Or even any other member of his crew, because they would undoubtedly have a better sense of direction than he.

By the time Luffy made it to his destination, with no small amount of help from unfriendly locals who acted as though they were doing the young man a great service by pointing him in the right direction, it was almost five. There was about an hour left until sundown, if that. That antidote... he needed that antidote... he looked up and was mildly surprised to find that the directions he had received had led him back to the Cursed Pearl. He checked the street signs to make sure he was where he was supposed to be, and then hesitantly entered the bar. He needed a glass of water, and maybe some meat, anyway.

There was something that was supposed to happen at the Cursed Pearl Pub at five... if only he could remember...

The pub was empty when Luffy entered it, the lights were dimmed and not even the bartender was around. The lanky boy stood firmly in place and peered all around him... something was not right. He gripped the painting now covered in a sheet and firmly tucked away under his arm even tighter, as though waiting for something.

Abruptly the lights in the back of the pub were turned on, and Luffy's eyes widened in surprise when he spotted the odd group of people waiting for him at a large circular table.

Twizzler and Licorice were in attendance, of course, as well as a cacophony of similar gangsters all sporting candy related accessories. They seemed to be surrounding a thin woman sitting at the head of the table with her arms neatly folded in front of her, her reddish hair pinned back with childish clips. She was wearing a bright pink tube top and had large sparkling chandelier earrings that dangled down to her shoulders, and a bone chilling smirk that could freeze fire. Strapped to her hip was a long blade. But Luffy hardly paid her any attention, because he was too focused on the girl Licorice and Twizzler had suspended between them.

"Nami!" Luffy cried with joy, despite the terrible surroundings.

"Luffy! Luffy be careful! Hardcandy is -!" Nami attempted to screech before Licorice muffled her voice with his hand and Twizzler elbowed her roughly in the gut. Luffy let out a low growl and saw red.

"Don't you touch her!" he ordered threateningly.

"What are you going to do about it, Captain Luffy?" a high pitch voice purred. Luffy focused on the woman he could only assume was Hardcandy Sweet, clenching his fists and frowning deeply.

"I'm going to take you down. Let my navigator go!"

"I'd like to see you try..." Hardcandy chortled, resting her cheek in her hand. "You look strong but I bet you can hardly stand – how is that poison treating you, Luffy?"

"Poison – how do you know about the poison?" Luffy asked, honestly at a loss. Another gurgled cry from a stifled Nami brought Luffy's attention back to the red head, and he noticed her eyes desperately flicking back to Hardcandy, her expression imploring, as though begging him to understand.

Then Luffy looked back at the crime boss again, squinting at her as she batted her big blue eyes cutely at him... and something clicked. Luffy felt his jaw drop, and the painting slipped from his fingers.

"Jon Jon..." he breathed, his face contorted with disbelief.

Hardcandy giggled obnoxiously, throwing her head back and letting her shoulders shake with amusement. "Took you long enough, fool," she gasped. She got to her feet, and Luffy noticed that she was really quite short and shapeless... she had the perfect body type that, if covered in the right sort of clothing, could pass for a young boy's. Her hair, although styled, was very short, and her features were quite young. As a woman she could maybe be in her twenties, but when dressed like Jon Jon she took on the appearance of twelve year old male.

"How long have you been planning this?" Luffy asked flatly.

"Ever since you docked," Hardcandy admitted easily. She strolled around the table, her men making way for her as she slowly sauntered closer to Luffy in large boots that were laced up to her knees. "You see, although my mother never painted the famous piece, Port Gold in Spring, I did have a mother who died young. She was murdered... by pirates. I've been taking out any such vagabonds who dock in my port ever since," she sneered evilly. Luffy frowned and scratched his head.

"Vagabond...?" he echoed blankly. Hardcandy looked vaguely annoyed.

"Oh, it's you, you idiot!" she sighed.

"Okay..." Luffy said, shrugging. "But I don't understand, why do everything in such secrecy? Why not just attack me outright?"

"Because I wanted to make you do a few chores for me, and I wanted you sick," Hardcandy explained while Nami glared daggers at her back, barely repressing the urge to growl. "That painting has been something I've wanted for a long time, but the house was made impenetrable by the late Lillian Willith's husband..." Two more of Hardcandy's men entered the room from the back door, dragging a figure along with them. They roughly threw him to the ground, where the old man struggled to regain his bearings.

"The owner of the Sandy Merman..." Luffy observed with a wince.

"Yes, that was his old mansion you broke into for me. I thought your particular talents would help you get through the traps that no one else was able to, and I was right. I was hoping to make things less suspicious by letting you find the house yourself... but you were too slow," Hardcandy sighed in mock despair. "I didn't want you dying before you had a chance to get that painting for me..."

At this point Mr. Willith looked up from the ground and immediately spotted the painting Luffy had dropped in his shock, the cloth that had covered it slipping off and revealing the piece. His face became pained and he lowered his head in defeat.

"No..." he murmured forlornly. "Not Lillith's best work..."

"Yes, you did a very good job of keeping that painting from me for a long time, old man," Hardcandy sighed contemptuously. "He was the first person I ever attempted to fool with the persona of Jon Jon... but it was useless. The intelligent Mr. Willith might have known the location of the painting, worth at least 20 million bellis, but he had made it impossible to get to even for himself."

"I was willing to take the risk of never seeing the painting again – if it meant you would never have it for yourself!" Mr. Willith cried passionately. "When you killed Lillian I swore I would never let you have it, if it was the last thing I did!"

"And now a tragically dumb rubber boy has gone and messed that whole plan up for you, hasn't he?" Hardcandy laughed, stepping over Mr. Willith and reaching for the painting herself. Her hand, complete with poison red painted nails, was stopped by Luffy's foot. She frowned up at him cooly.

"Get off of my hand," she said simply.

"No," Luffy replied flatly.

"Get off of my hand or I'll kill your little girlfriend," she added.

"I challenge you to a duel," Luffy said loudly, shaking with rage. Hardcandy blinked at him for a minute, before smirking and shrugging her shoulders.

"Sure," she responded.

"But boss!" Licorice cried from across the room.

"It's all right boys, you know I can handle myself," Hardcandy assured them, reaching for her sword. She faced off with Luffy, her stance casual as the pirate glared at her from under his straw hat. "You were so predictable Luffy," she stated, her eyes flashing cruelly. "I made you feel bad for poor Jon Jon, because I knew you wouldn't do anything sensible or normal like go back to your crew's medic and get a cure if you trusted him enough..."

"Shut up," Luffy said lowly.

"But it looks like you've been easily fooled a few times. Why, little Nami here had you running in circles, didn't she?" Still restrained by Licorice and Twizzler, Nami sucked in a painful breath and averted her gaze, frowning intensely. Why did she have to bring that up?

"I said SHUT UP!" Luffy ordered again, his eyes snapping open wide as he raced forward with his arm retracted, ready to dole out a harsh blow to Hardcandy's smirking face. But Hardcandy easily sidestepped him, her small form was much faster than Luffy had predicted.

Flying by her, propelled forward by the force of his punch, Luffy just had a chance to glance at Hardcandy while something slipped into her hand. He watched her chuck the foreign object at him, coming to a halt finally to regard the little objects now rolling around his feet.

"Jawbreakers?" he said aloud, confused.

And then all he knew was pain as the 'jawbreakers' began to blow up all around him, creating a mini explosion in the bar that had Luffy sprawled out on the floor, charred and burnt.

"_LUFFY_!" Nami screamed in fear, pulling at her captors to no avail.

Luffy groaned and got to his feet, his whole body aching now from the blast, as well as from the poison that was making his vision fade ever so slowly. Bearing his teeth the young man faced Hardcandy again, determined to show no weakness.

"You weren't expecting that, were you?" Hardcandy asked innocently, having slipped back into an offensive stance with her blade pointed at Luffy's chest. Luffy grinned down at the sword, it couldn't harm him. "Those are my special jawbreakers – they've made me into something of a legend around here."

"Stop talking!" Luffy yelled, stretching his leg back as far as he could in the small pub. "Gum gum WHIP!" His leg shot forward speedily, but even Luffy could tell he was moving slower than usual with the dulling effects of the poison, and after Hardcandy leapt over his limb he barely had time to stop it before it rammed into Mr. Willith and Nami on the other side of the room.

He spun around to see where Hardcandy had gone and was taken by surprise yet again by her jawbreakers as she threw three more at his torso. He furiously tried to backpedal before he realized he had no where to go but into everyone else in the pub, and he refused to hurt Nami or Mr. Willith, to whom he had already caused so much pain.

This time when Luffy was overtaken by the explosions, he didn't stand up again, his body twitching lightly on the wooden floor by Hardcandy's feet. She looked down at him with a victorious smile.

"The captain of the Going Merry felled by me... my but this really is a momentous occasion," Hardcandy hissed.

"No! Luffy! Wake up!" Nami cried, tears streaming down her face in rivers as she stared in horror at Luffy's still figure. How could this be happening?

"Oh shut up, you stupid girl. Even if he's alive he won't last long with that poison in his system,"Hardcandypointed out. Nami shook her head in denial.

"Luffy's strong, he'll be all right. You don't know _anything_!" Nami insisted, realizing that she was starting to ramble.

"Oh, but I do know a few things. I know where all of your crew members are in the city right now, for instance. And I know that if I call on them all and use you as bait I can get the infamous Straw Hat crew together and blow them up at my own leisure. Right now my men are scouting them all over Port Gold, and have been keeping tabs on your ship as well."

'Oh God...' thought Nami, her eyes wide and terrified. 'I have to warn them... I have to...'

BAAAAAM

"What the HELL?" Hardcandy cried, her head whipping to the side as a wall of the pub fell away and everyone was covered in rubble from the explosion.

Nami coughed into her hand, noticing that in the excitement Licorice and Twizzler had let her go. She braced herself on an overturned chair and immediately ran to Luffy, hardly paying attention to the blast. She cradled her captain's dark head in her lap, picking up his straw hat that had fallen off and rolled under a table at some point during the battle.

"Come on Luffy... wake up... don't be dead..." she cried softly.

"HARDCANDY SWEET?" a wonderfully familiar voice now boomed from the wreckage of what used to be the bar.

"Who are you?" Hardcandy demanded, her men coming to stand behind her as a single form entered the pub confidently.

"I am Roronoa Zoro, and I'm here to challenge you to prove that I am the most skilled swordsman in all the lands!" Zoro roared, finally appearing in all of his splendor, two swords gripped in his hands, and another clenched between his teeth. With his bandana shading his eyes he looked vaguely sinister.

Hardcandy looked at Zoro, and then glanced down at the sword in her hands, her expression confounded.

"Well," she said. "That's unexpected,"

OOOOOOO

Author's Notes:

If anyone tells me that they guessed that Jon Jon was actually Hardcandy Sweet I will kill myself. I was really proud of how much I concealed that little secret – in fact, I concealed it so well I didn't even know I was gonna do it until I started writing chapter two! I have to go on vacation now, and when I come back I'll have chapter four out. That's going to be the final chapter, by the way. Unless I get really crazy and write a sequel.

Peace

Rio Grande


	4. End of the Day

So, here we are. The final chapter. I am so happy I chose to make this fic short. I can't believe I'm finishing a fic. It's blowing my mind. 

But first... I have this big fat apology to make because... I am an utter retard. Battle tactics and whatnot in anime/comics are not really my thing... mainly because I spend all show/comic reading way too much into the emotional state of the characters... so when hanyou-gez mentioned that rubber can actually be pierced by arrows, such as the ones Luffy has been effortlessly taking in all fic... I was like, whoa, I had no idea. So can we all just pretend that didn't happen and overlook my lack of knowledge about such matters? Thanks... I'm actually not SO bad at writing action sequences, it's just that One Piece in particular has _very odd_ fighting moves and the like.

About a sequel or more Nami/Luffy related stories – my real dream is to write a fic about Luffy and Nami like ten years into the future or something, possibly with children involved, but by no means an second generation story – however I can't do that because we don't know how the comic ends and stuff, and there is that big fat question about One Piece, so it's really an impossibility. And it's not like with Inuyasha or something where you can just sort of easily make up your own version of how the whole thing ends and then write a future story ... One Piece is so unique, you'd really have to wait for the creators to finish what they started. Still, I'll try and think of something.

I'm actually reading this really creepy book that takes place in Spain in the 1830s, Natural History, and it's inspiring me to write an AU vampire One Piece fic... what do you think of that? Luffy as an eccentric vampire? It's not that different from being an eccentric pirate, really.

Lastly, a big thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really love reviews, a lot. If you want to give me some more - don't hesitate. The last ones created this chapter, by far the longest chapter of the story.

I don't own One Piece and enjoy.

OOOOOOOOO

**Sunset at Port Gold**

By Rio Grande

Chapter Four: End of the Day

OOOOOOOOO

Never before in her entire pathetic existence had Nami been so overwhelmingly thankful for the presence of one person. Zoro. Good old, dependable Zoro. Really, he was so responsible, when she stopped to think about it. Had a good head on his shoulders, that one did. And now there he was, standing like a demon straight out of hell with his swords drawn, literally knocking the piss and vinegar out of Hardcandy and her merry men as he demolished an entire section of the pub with a few well placed strikes.

"Zoro of the Straw Hat Crew... I hadn't expected you to challenge me on your own," Hardcandy admitted as much to Zoro as to herself, fingering her blade agitatedly.

"Zoro – HELP!" Nami cried from her place on the floor, still clutching Luffy's prone form to her chest, fear for the young captain overtaking her sense of preservation or pride.

"Nami?" Zoro asked, quirking an eyebrow at the red head in confusion, as though noticing her for the first time. "What are you doing here? And what's wrong with Luffy?" Zoro was regarding Luffy with no small degree of horror, not accustomed to seeing his captain in such a condition.

"It's Hardcandy! She poisoned him and blew him up with those jawbreakers of hers! You've got to take her down!" Nami gasped urgently.

Deciding that Nami had said quite enough indeed, Twizzler moved as to backhand the distressed girl across the face – but was stopped in his tracks by the feeling of cold steal pressed firmly against his neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Zoro suggested simply, the look in his eyes enough to make Twizzler back down entirely.

"O-Oh – okay..." Twizzler agreed instantly.

"I've heard about your impressive skills Zoro... So, If you're here for a fight, I won't disappoint you," Hardcandy declared, facing Zoro with a viscous gleam in her vibrant blue orbs. Zoro smiled nastily at her.

"Good. Let's get this over with."

Quickly everyone moved to the sides and formed a circle around the duelers, Nami dragging Luffy to the periphery as carefully as she could. The boy was coming in and out of consciousness, but didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings anymore.

"Nami..." he rasped, his voice frighteningly weak. "Is that One Piece?..."

"Er, yes. Sure," Nami responded heartily.

"It's a hunk of meat. I knew it." And then he was out again.

"Begin!" a random gang member cried from the sidelines.

Hardcandy and Zoro came at each other with lighting speed, both moving with the grace and skill of two seasoned swordsman. Hardcandy danced dizzyingly around, moving with a liquid cadence that made Nami very happy she wasn't on the receiving end of her gleaming blade, and made her understand just how such a small woman had strong armed her way to the top of Port Gold's criminal hierarchy.

However, despite Hardcandy's apparent skill, she was still quite outclassed by Zoro.

As the crime boss was beaten back again and again every time she attempted an offensive move, she began to realize this fact as well. Zoro was all but playing with her he was so beyond her in skill level, moving in a flurry of swords she could hardly navigate her way through, and this was something Hardcandy would not stand for. She parried to the side and slipped her free arm behind her back, panting lightly. Nami watched her with scared brown eyes, anticipating the woman's next desperate move.

"Zoro watch out!" she screamed. "She's going to use a jawbreaker!"

"A what?..." Zoro asked from behind his third sword, halting in confusion as he watched two very small objects be hurled at him. For Nami it seemed as though she was watching a replay of Luffy's demise, and she quickly averted her gaze in fear.

There was a quick slashing sound and then a few more loud plops, and when nothing happened for a second Nami cracked an eye open to see what the hold up was, only to find Zoro staring down stupidly at the four pieces of Hardcandy's jawbreakers he had easily sliced in half before they had reached his person. He glanced up to gauge Hardcandy's reaction, but she merely winked disturbingly at him.

Abruptly the cut up pieces of explosive jawbreakers did what they were supposed to do anyway, and blew up around Zoro, not at all perturbed by the fact that they had been sliced. The tall man was taken over by smoke and sparks, and Nami decided that if all of these explosives didn't stop soon she was going to go deaf.

When Nami was finally able to make out Zoro's form from behind the smoke, fearfully gazing at his visage, she was both surprised and elated to find that the swordsman was hardly nicked. In fact, he looked almost cocky as he took a threatening step towards Hardcandy, his clothing and skin vaguely singed, but his demeanor and posture the same as it ever was.

"But how did you..." Hardcandy breathed in disbelief. "No one can just walk away from my jawbreaker attack!" she argued heatedly.

"Lady, I'm not just anybody." Zoro explained.

Then he all but flew at Hardcandy, making a wild swipe at her head that actually gave Nami pause with the sheer violence behind it. Hardcandy jumped frantically backwards, gasping in shock as two of her brightly colored hairpins fell to the ground in pieces, along with a few chunks of lovely auburn hair. She glared fiercely at Zoro afterward, but now her angry expression held traces of doubt as well. Her trump card had already been used... or had it?

When Zoro lunged at her, one arm arched back to dole out the final blow that would end the match and make for another swordsman down on his ever growing list of felled opponents, Hardcandy stood her ground and merely scowled.

"STOP!" she ordered in such a commanding tone of voice Zoro actually listened.

"What?" he asked in confusion, his sword seconds away from her chest. He hadn't planned on killing her, but knocking her out after what she had done to Luffy and Nami seemed fair.

"Touch me and you'll never get the antidote for your little rubber captain. And I'll kill your stupid navigator," she informed him, lowering her sword. Zoro glanced over his shoulder to spot Twizzler leveling another arrow at Nami's head from a corner, albeit a bit hesitantly after he got a look at Zoro's expression.

"Dishonorable cow," Zoro muttered darkly. Hardcandy shrugged unapologetically.

"Whatever. It's not as though I'm competing to be the best swordsman in all the lands. I'm just a crime boss, and this is how I make my living," she stated honestly.

"I'm not going to surrender to you," Zoro insisted.

"Then what are you going to do? Let your buddies die?" Hardcandy asked flatly. Zoro looked undeniably conflicted and turned towards Nami again, his eyes asking her what to do. Nami always had an answer for sticky situations like this, she was good at negotiating. But the girl's gaze merely flickered back down to the boy in her lap, her expression saying much more than words ever could. Luffy was out cold more, and every breath he took made his body shudder with convulsions. His lips were turning blue. They needed that antidote, no matter what.

Outside the sky had melted into neon pink and orange, and everywhere birds were flying back to their nests for the duration of the evening. The air turned chillier while stores began to turn off their lights, and shut down. It was sunset at Port Gold, and even though Zoro had come and defeated Hardcandy fair and square, they still hadn't won in the end.

Gritting his teeth, the master swordsman removed his third blade from his mouth and stood in front of Hardcandy with his head bowed. His eyes gave one last, cursory glance around the pub, as though weighing his options against this many of Hardcandy's men. But the gang members were so numerous and spread out, he wasn't sure he could take them all in time to save Nami's life, or ensure Luffy's antidote.

"I may be a better swordsman than you," he started out gruffly, causing Hardcandy to smile. "... But I need that antidote. So -"

"GAHH!" a high pitched wail reached Zoro and Hardcandy's ears, and simultaneously both fighters looked to the side to see what the commotion was. Zoro first looked to Nami, but she was still sprawled on the ground with Luffy, her expression confused as she searched frantically around the pub, perhaps afraid Twizzler was going to off her anyway. But when her eyes reached the pink man she found something most surprising – another arm had grown out of Twizzler's shoulder and he was strangling himself quite efficiently, pushed into such a state of panic that his crossbow had clattered to the ground and he was staggering backwards with tears of fright running down his face.

"What's going ON? Someone help me!" he moaned. Everyone in the pub seemed hesitant to spring into action, perhaps because the nature of Twizzler's attacker was so very bizarre – everyone except for Nami and Zoro, who were smiling ear to ear.

"Robin," Nami whispered triumphantly, hauling Luffy behind the bar with her. She had a feeling things were about to get nasty and she didn't want to be used as a tool for surrender again.

Sure enough soon Hardcandy's men were being brutally strangled by their freshly formed appendages left and right, and Hardcandy herself was staring in morbid disbelief at the sight in front of her. People were throwing themselves out of windows and trying to bash their new arms into walls in their fear, and the volume in the pub had been raised at least ten decibels.

"What the hell is this?" Hardcandy asked in her trembling soprano, apparently not aquainted with the newest member of the crew's special talents.

As if to make matters worse, an entire line of dumbstruck gangsters were crushed to the ground by a smooth kick delivered by one long, thin leg covered in black slacks. A few more men trying to make a speedy exit out of what was left of the front door were shot down as well by a quick succession of small rocks pelted at them by a slingshot.

"Sanji, Usopp! Good to see you," Zoro said, jogging up to the two smirking men who had silently entered the pub while Chopper flung himself onto a single gangster and started punching him in the head off to the side.

"I'd say the same, but it looks as though you're not in very good shape. What's wrong with Luffy?" Sanji asked, casting a vaguely worried glance at the bar.

"I'll explain later, let's just take down this nuisance first."

"I'll drink to that," Robin said from the doorway, strutting in with one hand holding a white cowboy hat firmly to her head.

"I would surrender if I were you, Hardcandy Sweet! You're dealing with the full Straw Hat Crew now, and we've taken down pirates of the likes _you can't even imagine!_ Why, we've even -" Usopp started enthusiastically, before being cut off by a swift hand motion from Sanji who was eager to put a stop to the young man's ramblings before he really got a on a roll.

"Can it," he said simply. "We've got other things to deal with. Why were you after our crew?"

"Because I hate pirates, you should all die you stinking thieves!" Hardcandy cried passionately, even as she slowly backed herself into a corner, her eyes bright with fear. Twizzler and Licorice were both knocked out on the floor, lying in a tangle of limbs, and all of her other men had either fled or were down for the count.

"Fair enough," Sanji replied with a careless shrug of his elegant shoulders.

"I don't understand! How did you know where to find me? How do you know who I am?" Hardcandy continued, pulling at her short hair nervously. "Zoro I can understand as being a freak accident. But ALL of you?"

"I read a very interesting book this afternoon," Robin explained, waving the novel she had been perusing earlier in front of her face. "'A People's History of Port Gold.' Quite a fascinating, thorough historical account. Spoke a lot about the fall of Port Gold due to the efforts of one crime boss named Hardcandy Sweet, starting about a decade ago. It also spoke of her intense hatred of pirates, and how most crews who dock in these waters don't live to tell the tale..."

"It was really child's play to figure out who else might have an army of stupidly dressed men tailing us around the port, after Robin read that. And when our friends went missing, it was even easier to find out where you might be," Sanji elucidated with a mean grin.

"Give us the antidote for Luffy, now," Zoro insisted, folding his arms across his chest once his friends had finished their speech that left Hardcandy twitching with anger.

"Antidote?" Chopper asked, quirking his furry head. "What are you talking about?"

"That bitch poisoned Luffy," Nami explained, motioning to Luffy's pale form. She had lain him out on the bar and was brushing hair away from his sweat soaked brow worriedly. "The poison has worked through his system, and if we don't get an antidote now he's going to die. She said he had until sunset!" Everyone looked towards Hardcandy accusingly, the anger and accusation in their eyes, combined, enough to give even the burliest fighter pause. However, Hardcandy looked not only determined, but something much more dangerous – insane.

"NEVER," she screeched. "I'd rather DIE than help save your STUPID captain! I poisoned him with the root of a Marine Flower, there's no way he's going to survive."

"If you give us that damned antidote there is!" Nami pointed out heatedly.

"And if you don't give us the antidote I'll make sure you die slowly," Robin added softly, another set of arms sprouting from her form suggestively.

"Ha, you don't scare me," Hardcandy hissed spitefully. "Besides, none of this matters anyway. I don't even HAVE an antidote. I never bothered to get one made, because there is absolutely no way I would save the life of a pirate."

There was a long, uncomfortable pause after Hardcandy's cheeky statement. Everyone stared at her with parted mouths and disbelieving eyes, unsure of what do to next. Was there even anything they could do?

After the silence was broken by a low, keening moan from the still form of Luffy, Nami came up with the solution by bolting forward and whacking Hardcandy solidly across the face with her staff. There was such a force behind her swing that Hardcandy collapsed to the floor afterwards with a sickening slam that only someone who was truly unconscious could produce. Nami stood above her, panting and glaring down at Hardcandy with unblinking eyes.

"Whoa, good job," Zoro commented with a low whistle. Nami glanced at him, and then quickly dissolved into tears, crouching down low and hiding her head in her arms. Sanji hesitantly approached her, the cook reaching out and putting a hand on her softly quaking back.

"It's okay Nami, everything will be all right," he murmured soothingly.

"How is everything going to be all right?" Nami cried pathetically, her voice wobbling as she roughly wiped tears from her eyes. "Didn't you hear her? She doesn't have a cure for Luffy. She never did!"

"She may not have the antidote, but she did give us some valuable information before you delivered that blow to her head," Chopper admitted, stepping towards the bar where already a worried Zoro and Usopp were hovering around Luffy.

"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked, looking uncharacteristically downtrodden himself.

"I mean that she told us just what poison she used on Luffy. Root of the Marine Flower – a slow acting, painful poison. A poison I know the cure for," Chopper confessed with a small smile. Nami gasped and used Sanji for support as she jumped to her feet.

"Really? Can it be made quickly?" she asked breathlessly.

"If I make it, it can,"

"Oh Chopper, you're a miracle worker!" Nami squealed excitedly, rushing forward and sweeping the tiny reindeer into her arms, crushing him to her chest. Behind her, Sanji looked vaguely put off. "What sort of materials are we going to need for the antidote? Are they available here?"

"They should be," Chopper said, squinting his eyes and appearing to go over a mental check list in his head. "If you all hurry and gather the ingredients I should be able to prepare it fairly quickly. But you've got to run!"

No sooner had Chopper written out what was needed on small napkin from the bar than the Straw Hat Crew was out the door, moving like pirates on a mission.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Fifteen minutes later Nami sat staring worriedly at Chopper as he pounded, stirred and sifted a variety of odd herbs into boiling cup of water in the kitchens of the Going Merry. The reindeer looked as though he knew what he was doing, but the cornucopia of odd smells wafting from the large, frothing cup worried Nami. How were they supposed to get Luffy to drink that?

The sky was completely dark now. Luffy's time was practically up. In fact, it could already be up. Would all of this be to no avail? Zoro was hunched over their fearless leader, who they had moved to the table of the dining cabin just next to the kitchens, cautiously feeling for a pulse on the frighteningly still boy's neck.

"His heart rate is very slow," the ex-pirate hunter admitted somberly.

"I'm almost done," Chopper assured him, mixing his concoction together with a large wooden spoon. Everyone was spread out around the room, nervously twiddling their thumbs and casting uneasy glances periodically at their captain. At this point there was really nothing any of them could do, and as people of action this generally ticked them off.

"You should have come to us sooner..." Zoro gritted out, shaking his head disapprovingly and not for the first time.

"I told you, I wanted to. Things were complicated – Hardcandy had us fooled and Luffy didn't want to worry you," Nami explained, frustrated.

"Oh, that worked out really well. I'm not worried at all, now," Zoro bit out.

"Hey, hey, let's just keep our heads guys. Luffy wouldn't want us fighting over him at a time like this," Usopp said, waving his arms in between Nami and Zoro in a placating manner. Nami looked like she wanted to give Zoro a piece of her mind, before sadness overcame her features and she lost interest, choosing to stare her feet with a concerted look on her features instead. This was such an uncharacteristic gesture from Nami that Zoro actually shut up as well.

"I'm finished!" Chopper announced, brightening everyone's features slightly. He approached Luffy's form with the bubbling cup slowly and started shooting out orders in a very professional manner.

"Zoro, clear away everything else on this table, he may have a violent reaction to this medicine. Nami, hold his head up, and open his mouth," Nami hesitantly used her index and middle finger to pry Luffy's limp lips open, moving his head back carefully.

Everyone looked on with bated breath. Chopper moved forward to tip the antidote, which had taken on a most unpleasant murky maroon color, down Luffy's partially open mouth. At first the boy showed no indication that he even noticed he was being forced to swallow something, but soon his face started to twitch and he began to take some of it in. However, once his tongue got a sense of the taste, he began to try to spit it all back up forcefully.

"Rub his neck to help it go down," Chopper said, staring intently at Luffy and continuing to pour down the antidote. Nami used the hand that wasn't prying Luffy's mouth open to massage his neck slowly, making motions that encouraged the liquid to continue down his throat. Luffy began to struggle, apparently the antidote was nastier than any of them had anticipated, his limbs flailing around sporadically.

"Hold him down!" Chopper yelled. Immediately Sanji and Zoro were at Luffy's side, pinning down his arms and legs and trying to prevent his torso from arching off of the table. Nami held his head and neck steady, her gaze pained as she looked at the sad picture Luffy made. It caused her to feel a sort of sadness she thought she had escaped after she watched her surrogate mother be murdered and her town terrorized – but here it was again. Someone she loved suffering terribly on account of her. If only she had been the one to take the poison... if only he hadn't been so chivalrous...

'Goddamit Luffy...' she thought furiously to herself, continuing to massage his neck firmly. 'You have to make it! Please!'

"Come on Luffy... you can do it... just hold on for a little bit longer and drink this stuff, for me okay?" she whispered encouragingly into his ear so softly that no one else could hear it above the racket Luffy's body was making. His rubber appendages were proving quite difficult to control.

"Almost done!" Chopper informed everyone in a shrill voice, tipping the last vestiges of the antidote into Luffy's mouth. From the sidelines Robin and Usopp stared in rapt fascination, their expressions slightly horrified. The whole scene was a bit disturbing.

"Please, please, please drink ..." Nami whispered hotly, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her hands forcibly encourage the foul drink down Luffy's gullet. There were a few gurgled protestations from the comatose pirate, and a couple last wild flails, but eventually he fell silent and still. Everyone let out big sighs of relief. They had given him the antidote, now all they could do was wait.

Everyone stepped away from Luffy, panting and slightly sweaty, regarding him incredulously.

"Who would have guessed even unconscious and on death's doorstep, that rubber boy would be such a hassle?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah, if he was so sick how come he had so much fight in him?" Zoro wanted to know.

"It was probably just an instinctual fevered reaction, spurred on by the pain the poison was causing his body," Chopper assured the swordsman.

"When are we going to be able to tell if the antidote is working properly?" Robin asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, actually. I've memorized the antidote from books I've read, but never had to actually administer it to a live patient, so I'm not sure how this is going to work. I would say from the amount of damage done to his body the recovery process might not be as swift as you'd all like, but I'm sure he'll be able to wake up soon enough. If this all manages to work efficiently, that is," Chopper explained in a detached tone. In many other aspects of his personality Chopper could be child like or downright naïve, but when it came to medicine he was nothing if not clinically professional.

"If?" Nami repeated, not liking the sound of the word.

"Well, his body might reject the antidote... he might be too far gone..." Chopper said, but upon viewing the crestfallen and outright depressed expressions on everyone's faces quickly amended his statement. "Though I'm sure it will work... it has to work. This is Luffy, after all,"

"Right," Zoro said, laughing uneasily. "Luffy wouldn't let himself be killed by some third rate gangster like Hardcandy Sweet..."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Three hours later Luffy was still out cold after being put to bed in his own cabin. He looked uncharacteristically frail and small amongst his pillows and sheets, and he was still silent, which was even odder. Usually watching Luffy sleep was like listening in on an orchestra of tragically broken French horns practicing before the big show, punctuated by animated kicks and punches. Nami knew the only reason Luffy had been relatively quiet and unmoving with her the other night was because he had been so determined to not succumb to the poison's effects. But now she feared that perhaps he had lost that battle, as she sat in a small chair by his bed and focused intently on the falling and rising of his chest.

It didn't seem right for him to be this still, or out of energy. His face was drawn and not shining with his usual enthusiasm. Even his straw hat looked to be out of juice as it hung limply on the door to his cabin, waiting for its master to return to it. Nami sighed and rubbed her temples, wishing for a painkiller. This boy had been causing her so much emotional pain in the past twenty four hours she didn't know where to begin – but she would give anything for it to be over. Only he cold make her worry this much.

Topside, it was pitch dark out and everyone was waiting for their captain to reawaken so they could take to the sea again and be rid of the cursed Port Gold. They had set up a table and lit candles to illuminate the darkness of the harbor, Sanji smoking like a chimney and vigorously preparing little snacks for everyone to eat in a vain attempt to keep his mind off of Luffy. Everyone else was nervously sipping on beer and wine. But Nami had been unable to stay away. She had stuck by Luffy for all of the adventure thus far, she would be willing to hang on till the end.

'If he wakes up... I promise I'll never rob another person...' Nami thought to herself, praying to a God she wasn't entirely sure existed, but was willing to call upon if it meant ensuring Luffy's wellness. 'And I'll be sure to tell him every day for the rest of his life how much he means to me... and how happy I am to have him be my friend... and that I l-lo-like him a lot...' She sighed and hugged herself weakly, becoming misty-eyed despite herself. 'And I'll stay by his side to help him become King of the Pirates, I promise. Oh, wait... I don't know how you feel about being a King of the Pirates. You probably don't like that, do you?'

She wrinkled her nose, trying to wrap her mind around the concept that being a pirate was a bad thing, even when Luffy was doing it. He made the whole enterprise seem so right, and justified. Once she had thought that all pirates were cruel, blood thirsty monsters – but he had made her see the profession in an entirely different light.

'I don't care what anyone thinks,' Nami thought firmly. 'Luffy deserves to be the Pirate King, he's worked too hard – and I'm going to help him if it's the last thing I do,' She reached forward and took Luffy's cold hand in her own warm one, leaning down and pressing it to her forehead instinctively.

"But you can't ever become the Pirate King if you stay unconscious Luffy... wake up! Wake up! Wake up because I need you with me. I can't DO this if you're not around. I can't do anything. So come back to me, because I... I l-lo-...

"I love you," There. She'd said it. Nami leaned back and let out a breath, feeling honestly relieved. That had been a long time coming, and even if he might not have been totally awake to hear it, it helped that she'd said it aloud.

Although, it was a sort of a disappointment that Luffy hadn't instantly snapped awake at her daring proclamation – she had been kind of hoping that he would hear her and muster the will to break out of his poison induced sleep to tell her how much he loved her, too.

'Who am I kidding. Like Luffy loves me... he probably thinks I'm a joke. I think I'm a joke. All he has room for in his heart is being the pirate king, and One Piece.'

In a bitter contrast to the amount of raw feelings Nami had been expressing last night after her heart to heart with Luffy, she was feeling insecure and unworthy again. Once more her captain had saved her from a terrible situation, and once again he was hurt because of it. Whenever she was saved or rescued there seemed to be a certain amount of guilt attached to the event that always left her reeling, and it was beginning to get tiring. She knew Luffy wouldn't blame her for his current condition if he ever awoke, but she had to believe it was partially her fault.

He had taken the poison for her sake, blocking her with his own body, and he had wanted to give 'Jon Jon' a chance in an effort to restore her own sense of purpose, to help her believe she was a good person despite the fact that she had a less than morally sound past. He had been trying to give her peace of mind in his own lovable way, and look where that had gotten him.

Nami pulled away and let out a long sigh, tired of dealing with her own insecurities when there was so much more on the line just then. However, as soon as she did so there was a violent jerking motion from Luffy.

"Luffy?" she asked sharply, sitting up straight and staring at him in shock. "Are you awake?" His eyelids were fluttering, but it seemed as though the pirate was still out – he was merely going into convulsions.

"Shit!" Nami cursed, lunging forward and holding Luffy down as he flailed and squirmed in her grasp. 'What's wrong with him – is he rejecting the antidote, like Chopper said he might?' "Help!" she cried, hoping someone was nearby and would hear her – but sound didn't exactly travel well on a large ship docked in a noisy port, and she couldn't hear the rapid sounds of many footsteps hurrying to her aide. God, where was Chopper?

"Luffy don't die, Luffy don't die, Luffy don't die..." She repeated the litany over and over as if it alone would save her friend's life, leaping onto the bed and straddling Luffy's form, trying to think of something to do. His eyes were open now but his pupils had rolled back into his head, and his torso was bucking off of the mattress as a slew of gurgled coughing sounds were wrenched from his mouth. Nami bit back an angry sob as she lightly slapped his cheeks, trying to snap him out of it.

"Come on, don't do this!" she ordered, yanking out a corner of the sheet covering Luffy and sticking it in his mouth with her fingers, determined not to let him swallow his own tongue.

She struggled on this way for a few more minutes, trying to keep him from doing any unnecessary damage to his own body. And then, abruptly, he moved forward and did a forceful sit up that sent Nami sprawling backwards onto his knees, where she say precariously. She watched him from behind the red strands of hair that were covering her face as he leaned over and hacked something up onto the sheets in front of him, his fists clenching the bed.

He made a few more garbled gagging sounds, before shakily wiping his mouth and peering up almost bashfully at Nami, his eyes darkly circled.

"Sorry," he mumbled in a scratchy voice. "I was choking," Then he motioned to the pile of mutilated looking herbs that greatly resembled bits of the ones Chopper had been mixing into his antidote earlier. Apparently some had been stuck in his throat for the past few hours, and his body had chosen this moment to forcibly expel them. Nami stared at him in utter disbelief, and there was an elongated period of silence where nobody breathed.

"Choking?" she repeated blankly. "I thought you were having a freaking seizure! I thought your body was rejecting the antidote! I thought you were DYING!" she cried, throwing herself forward and embracing Luffy forcefully, her arms wound tightly around his torso with her head hidden in his chest.

"S-sorry..." Luffy gasped, patting her head and smiling almost ruefully.

"Stop saying that," Nami ordered, her voice tingling against his ribs. "Quit it... Because I'm just... I'm just so happy you're okay..." Luffy's eyes widened as he noticed her form shaking gently against his own, and heard the tell tale signs of her sniffling pathetically.

"Don't cry again!" he said, waving his arms around wildly despite his weakened condition as he felt the beginnings of her tears start to wet his red vest. "I can't stand it when you cry!" Laughing hollowly, Nami raised her head and dried her eyes, pausing on her way up to look directly at Luffy. He stared back at her in wonderment as he caught the bald-faced joy and relief on her features, unsure if he'd ever seen her quite so happy.

"Na-mph!" He was stopped in mid-word by the pleasant, alluring feel of his own lips crushed against Nami's soft ones. She kept her arms wrapped tightly around him as she continued to press her mouth against his, desperate to keep close to the rubber man. Luffy looked shocked only momentarily, before he smiled into the kiss and deepened it by curling a hand around Nami's neck and darting his tongue out against hers experimentally.

Soon they were engaged in a full on make out session, Luffy dragging Nami down next to him when he felt he couldn't lift his torso up any longer. He was still incredibly drained from the near death experience he had only just recovered from, but the promise of Nami's thin body arched all along his as she mewled into his mouth while stroking his back slowly was too much for him to resist, pirate captain or no. In fact, he was willing to overlook any sort of new disease, flesh wound or heart failure that might have come upon him as long as she kept on letting him explore the depths of her mouth with his tongue like he was...

But soon Nami pulled away, her breath coming out in short pants as she regarded him with a small, shy smile. Luffy stared at her, dazed, his mind still attempting to catch up with all that had happened in the past ten minutes he'd been conscious. His lips quirked dumbly upward as he focused in on her mouth, leaning in for a continued kiss. But Nami backed away, shaking her head somberly.

"I promised myself that if you ever woke up again I would do that to you – I would kiss you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything," she explained almost sheepishly.

"Freak me out?" Luffy echoed, scratching his head. "Nami, I don't -"

"I understand it's weird, I mean, it's completely fine if you don't feel like I do. I've thought for a long time that what I felt – am feeling – was probably one sided and you have a lot of things going on so it's -"

"Nami, I think you should -"

"- Okay if you just want to pretend it didn't happen. If that will make things less awkward, or something..."

"Nami!" Luffy interjected urgently when his navigator paused in her nervous rambling to take a breath of air. "Don't say anything else!" he ordered, putting a finger to her lips and taking her off guard, his eyes completely serious. "You don't have to say any of those things. They're... they're not true..."

"What do you mean?" Nami asked guardedly, feeling a bit naked. She had just pounced on Luffy in a weakened state and kissed the hell out of him – she hadn't even meant to, it had just come out of no where. There was no denying her feelings now, not to herself or to Luffy, and the notion was terrifying.

"I mean it's okay that you kissed me," Luffy stopped when he realized how lame that sounded. "I mean... it's _better_ than okay. It's good. Because I love you, too," Nami gasped dramatically and covered her mouth, her breath catching in her throat. Luffy smiled widely and nodded encouragingly at her.

"You love me?..." He nodded his head more vigorously. "...wait, too? Y-you heard what I said before? When you were out? You could hear me?"

"I think it's what made me choke,"

"...Oh. Sorry about that,"

"It's fine. Um, can we start kissing again? I liked that," Luffy admitted, licking his lips in anticipation, his eyes lit up with a sultry fire Nami couldn't remember ever seeing in them before. It made her body tingle oddly in lots of different places.

"Well, I want to Luffy..."

"Then let's do it!"

"But shouldn't we let the others know you're all right? They're all topside, worried sick about you," Nami explained guiltily. Much as she wanted to continue with her new found closeness with Luffy, it wouldn't be fair to the others to keep them in the dark about their captain's... full... recovery.

Luffy looked torn for a moment, his eyes darting around animatedly, before he finally sighed and abruptly sat up, rubbing his head. Nami let out a breath she'd been holding, partially relieved but mostly disappointed. If he had insisted on continuing at all she probably wouldn't have been able to deny him.

"Yeah you're right, I've gotta apologize for making them have to deal with all this. I remember Zoro saving me, and you guys giving me the antidote, vaguely. Gyah, I really messed up..."

"No you didn't!" Nami argued, sitting up with him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Hardcandy Sweet was a twisted, evil woman and she tricked you because she knew you were a good person... there is absolutely no one to blame in this situation except for her... and, and me, too," Nami ended, lowering her head ashamedly.

"You?" Luffy asked incredulously. "Nami, if I'm not to blame, neither or you!"

"No... you took that poison for me. And you only went along with Hardcandy's plan because you wanted to help me by proving that Jon Jon was a good person, so I wouldn't feel so bad about what happened with Arlong," Nami explained.

"... That's not why I trusted Jon Jon," Luffy argued, his tone as dopey and light hearted as ever, his words profound. "Stop dwelling on the past Nami. If you got through it, and you still have all of your friends, and you still have me... then you should just move on. I wasn't thinking about you when Hardcandy betrayed me, and you shouldn't either. You two are nothing alike! Just keep moving forward. That's how I live – that's how a pirate lives."

"Luffy... you... you're right," Nami sighed, shaking her head. It was hard to believe how frequently Luffy's sporadic and emotional speeches ended up changing her mind. If it were anyone else, she might not have taken their words to heart, but this was Luffy and she trusted his wisdom, odd as that sounded

"Still, I made the crew worry about me," Luffy said, taking in a deep breath and slipping into an Indian style sitting position. Nami could tell be the careful way he was taking in his breaths that he wasn't feeling entirely recovered yet. "I've gotta make it up to them,"

"Luffy, don't get out of bed – I'll go fetch everyo-"

"Luffy? Is he awake?" a high pitched, wobbly voice asked as the door to Luffy's cabin was thrown open and virtually all of the members of the Going Merry poured quickly into the already claustrophobic room, headed by an eager Usopp. The sight they came upon was a fully conscious Luffy and Nami sitting across from each other, their hands idly intertwined between them as they stared intently into each other's eyes.

"Heyyy!" Luffy greeted his friends, waving with all of the blithe enthusiasm of an innocent child.

"Uh, yes, he woke up!" Nami informed everyone stupidly, gesturing to the tanned boy. "I was just about to go get you all,"

"Sure you were," Zoro said mischievously, quirking a green eyebrow. Nami scowled heatedly at him, partly embarrassed, while Sanji just looked crestfallen once more. Happy as she was that she had finally cleared the air with Luffy, she was far from ready to let their relationship go public. A terrible thought occurred to her as she glanced at Luffy from the corner of her eye, trying to discreetly edge away from him. Would he have any qualms about telling people of their declarations? This wasn't exactly what she considered an opportune moment, but Luffy wasn't really known for his tact.

"I was," she muttered firmly, like an obstinate child.

"Are you feeling all right Luffy?" Chopper asked, hopping forward and doing a cursory check of the boy's eyes, temperature and mouth, peering down his throat as Luffy obediently opened his mouth so that his curiously long tongue hung out like a dog's.

"Ah-hu," he said with his mouth still wide open. "uch eheher,"

"Oh, good," Chopper said with real relief in his voice. "I wasn't sure how the recovery process was going to go, but you seem to be healing really well."

"Yeah, I feel good," Luffy added once his mouth was back to its normal position. "Just a bit tired I guess. Thanks for helping me out, guys. I kind of remember Zoro stepping in to deal with Hardcandy, and then I remember Chopper trying to force some terrible tasting crap down my throat..." Everyone winced as they remembered that terrible episode, as well. "What happened, exactly?"

"Well, I had been practicing in a dojo on the outskirts of town," Zoro explained, leaning against the cabin wall and beginning the tale. "When I heard that the reigning mob boss in town was also a swordsman, I saw it as an opportunity to challenge another worthy opponent and spread my name around a bit. When I finally located her, I found you and Nami about to be killed. She was an easy opponent, in terms of her skills with a sword, but then she used your antidote and Nami's life against me, and I was sort of stuck between a rock and hard place..." Zoro admitted, trailing off and letting Usopp take over.

"Meanwhile, we were all being trailed around the city by Hardcandy's men. Robin noticed them around the ship, and she happened to be reading a book about the history of Port Gold that went all the way up to modern day, so she recognized the fact that the men after us were Hardcandy's," the young man explained dramatically.

"Figures," Luffy laughed emphatically, rubbing his head and the utter predictability of his crew.

"After that, we all began to worry about the whereabouts of you, Nami and Zoro," Robin said in her quiet voice. "We considered that if we were being tailed, perhaps she had already gotten to you. So we promptly located her, and that's when we ran into all three of you at the bar and staged an onslaught that eventually took down her entire gang."

"That we know of," Sanji added as an after thought.

"They were really kick ass Luffy, it's too bad that you missed it," Nami admitted, smiling to herself as she recalled the fond memory of seeing Twizzler and Licorice fall to their knees in submission.

"Yeah, and Nami knocked Hardcandy out personally when she told us she never actually had an antidote for you," Zoro laughed, drawing chuckles from everyone else as well.

"Really? You did that for _me_ Nami?" Luffy asked loudly, turning to Nami with a wide grin stretched across his face, the look in his eyes devious. Reddening automatically, Nami leaned away from him and tried to look affronted, suddenly aware of their physical closeness once more.

"Well of course I did! She was a big bully! I hate her," she explained defensively, nervous but immeasurably happy that Luffy had chosen not to talk about their love life in front of all their friends, and seemed to be keeping everything on the down low pretty successfully.

"Hahaha,"

"Anyway, if you're feeling better Luffy, can we hurry up and get out of here? We're all restocked and if I ever seen this Godforsaken port again it will be too soon," Sanji interrupted blandly, causing others around him to nod in solemn agreement.

"No, actually. There's something else I have to do. What time is it?" Luffy asked, folding his arms and frowning.

"Almost ten o'clock... but there's no way you can go out right now Luffy. You've got to get some sleep and give your body a chance to recuperate," Chopper said in a tone that suggested there was no room for compromise in this situation.

"Well, I guess this would be better to do when it's light out again anyway," Luffy admitted, laying back down and smiling.

"What are you talking about?" Nami asked, getting to her feet and giving Luffy room to stretch out.

"You'll see. Can you guys hang on for one more day, and then we'll leave?" Luffy asked plaintively, addressing his entire crew. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances before grudgingly conceding.

"Okay Luffy, but this better be good,"

"It is."

OOOOOOOOOOO

The next morning was a temperate, sunny day that was alight with the hushed buzzing of town gossips discussing the unbelievable events that had taken place the previous night. Word on the street was that Hardcandy had been defeated, and that her terrible gang that had been ruling over the port like a tyrannical overlord was disbanded. It seemed almost too good to be true, but there was incriminating evidence everywhere and the Cursed Pearl, a well known hangout for the female gangster, had been utterly demolished.

The Straw Hat Crew didn't hang around to hear any of the gossip however, or even to be congratulated as the people that actually defeated Hardcandy. They started off their day at Old Mr. Willith's abandoned mansion, that somewhat resembled a battle field on the inside after Luffy's none to careful handling of its intense burglar system.

Nami stood supporting said bar owner, as he was using a crutch and had his other arm bound in a sling, a purpling bruise forming on his temple. She had been embarrassed to admit that in her rush to help Luffy she had forgotten about the poor old man and left him in the bar, huddled under a table. The crew had fetched him sat Luffy's request and Chopper had bandaged him up, and now Sanji, Zoro and Usopp were inside cleaning up the mess Luffy had made.

Luffy was helping out the best he could, but Chopper had specifically forbade him from getting involved in anything too physical for the next few days. Luffy had listened to the little reindeer's words and took them to heart, but it still hadn't stopped him from calling Nami to his room and engaging in some very physical lip lock for a few minutes earlier that morning.

Feeling extreme guilt over having been duped by Hardcandy into stealing his wife's famous painting and jeopardizing its safety after Mr. Willith had gone through such pains to keep it safe, Luffy had felt obligated to reinstate the booby traps and assure the 'Springtime in Port Gold's' safety for the man. However, upon offering, Willith had declined because he felt he no longer had to worry about the painting's security since Hardcandy's gang was out of business.

"The service you and your crew have done for this city outweighs any temporary pain you may have caused me," Mr. Willith explained kindly, looking much better and more at ease than when he and Nami had first met him, despite the fact that he had gotten the shit beaten out of him since then.

"Thanks!" Luffy had replied for the Straw Hat Pirates, beaming.

Never the less, the young man had offered to at least put his house back together after the damage he had caused, and Mr. Willith hadn't turned the favor down. The crew had been annoyed at first, but Nami and Luffy convinced them to go along with the plan, as well as Robin's interest in the old man.

"Lillian Willith was really your wife? I've read about her in numerous art history books – she was truly one of the great modern painters of our time," she said, gushing as much as someone like Robin could gush.

"Yes, I quite agree, obviously. I have the largest collection of her work in the world, you know. Perhaps before you leave you would like a look?..."

"Oh, yes."

Of course, in the end it was everyone who didn't care much about Mr. Willith who had to repair the stairs, remove the various axes and spikes from the house and give it a thorough cleaning.

"I don't see how this is any sort of job for a pirate," Usopp whined to Zoro as he hammered in new flooring to the area over the trap door Luffy had fallen through.

"Just keep working. The faster we get this done the faster we get out of here," the Swordsman sighed peevishly, bringing an arm full of arrows out of the house, and ignoring Nami's jab that, underneath his tough guy exterior he was really just a big softy. Mr. Willith had booby trapped the house more thoroughly than he had ever thought possible, and he was in no mood for the young woman's teasing.

"Whoa!" Luffy commented as he found an un-activated trapdoor that pulled him into a secret holding chamber it took Sanji most of an hour to get him out of.

In the end it took the whole crew the better part of the afternoon to finish up with the house, and make it once again safe to actually live in so that Mr. Willith could move out of his apartment over the pub. For lunch Mr. Willith gave them all free food at the Sandy Merman, telling everyone stories of grandeur about the early days of Port Gold. They all ate well, except for Sanji who spent the whole time making snide comments about the chef's minimal abilities, and then said a quick farewell, eager to be free of the port before more people started recognizing them and hailing them as the vigilantes who took down Hardcandy. It wasn't that they didn't like attention, far from it, they just didn't want to get held up any longer than was necessary.

"Come back again some time!" Mr. Willith called after them. "I have a feeling this place will be much different next time you see it!"

"Okaayy! I'll come see you after I become King of the Pirates!" Luffy called back to him gaily.

"Um – all right..."

When the Going Merry finally set sail it was with a great sigh of relief, the entire crew nearly sagging with exhaustion as they smoothly swam away from the harbor.

"It's really kind of pretty when you look at it from here," Nami commented idly, resting her arm on the bow and staring at the retreating town, going over a mental replay of all that had happened to her in the past three days. It was quite a lot.

"I guess," Luffy agreed from his lounging position next to her, holding onto his straw hat to keep it from being blown away by the powerful winds coursing about the ship. The sun was hanging low in the sky, its brilliant light reflecting off of the many roofs speckled about the port, and making all of the trees resemble the metal the port was named after.

Nami found herself staring intently at Luffy's face while he continued to watch the town, wondering randomly if the good things that had happened to her due to her stay at Port Gold outweighed all of the terrible things that had taken place. Running around the port on a wild goose chase while being followed by obnoxious gangsters, getting garbage thrown on her, being kidnapped and kept in a dungeon, and forced to live through a virtual show down where her ear drums were nearly blown out, only to fret over Luffy's well being for quite an elongated period of time during which she swore he was really going to kick the bucket... all to have him confess his true feelings for her, finally.

'There's no question there,' Nami thought, grinning as she watched the water reflect off of Luffy's dark eyes. 'It was totally worth it. Every second.'

"You staring at me, Nami?" Luffy asked mischievously, peering at her from the corner of his eye as he noticed his navigator's intense gaze.

"Uh, no..."

"It's okay if you were," he admitted, coming to stand closer to her so their foreheads knocked together lightly. "I know I'm cute," He punctuated his last sentence with an award winning smile that left Nami with her mouth agape.

"Why you – you-" her shocked stuttering was cut short as Luffy slanted his mouth over hers and drew her in for another one of the many kisses he had been assaulting her with all day, having wasted no time in taking it up as his new favorite hobby. Nami had to admit she didn't mind, at all, but she worried that one day soon the others might catch them in the act. Plus, she had never thought that Luffy would be so forward and it was angering her how wrapped around his finger she was when he got all demanding and sexy. In most other aspects of their complicated relationship she felt relatively in control due to her intellectual advantages, but when he trailed his finger down her spine like that and bit on her lower lip she had the mental capacity of an earth worm.

Nami broke away briefly and carefully searched the deck, making sure that no one was close enough to spot them furiously playing tonsil hockey. Luffy watched her do this with no small degree of amusement. He had no modesty or sense of self preservation to speak of, anyway, and wouldn't have been perturbed in the slightest were the whole crew to accidentally come upon them at that moment.

"You don't mind that I don't want to tell anyone about all this, right?" Nami asked, just to be sure she wasn't offending some part of Luffy's ego she hadn't been aware of.

"Nope," he said with an affable shrug. "If the crew doesn't think we're hooking up it doesn't mean we're not hooking up," he explained.

"Right," Nami agreed, not entirely sure she was following, but relieved he was agreeing with her at the very least.

"Hey, you're going to stay with me, aren't you Nami? Until I become King of the Pirates?" Luffy asked with such a degree of earnest need in his tone that Nami's expression dissolved into a loving smile automatically.

She leaned against him and buried her face in his neck to hide the fact that she was overly pleased with his last statement, breathing in his musky, salty scent and letting him twine his own lanky arms around her waist. She opened her eyes and stared at the sky behind his head. The sun was setting once more, disappearing in a vibrant splash of yellow sparkles beyond the ocean. And in the distance she could spot the tiny, dark silhouette of Port Gold. It was almost out of sight, but still easily identified.

"Yeah... I will..." she assured her captain softly, earning an affectionate squeeze and a goofy laugh. "And maybe I'll stay on a bit longer after that, as well,"

"That would be good," Luffy agreed with a happy nod of his head, craning his neck around the necessary distance to kiss Nami properly yet again. She felt as though his skills were improving every time they did this, which was all the more reason to let him kiss her as much as he wanted. "... We should do that."

By the time the sun was fully set the couple was still lingering on the deck, seated on the ground now and wrapped in each other's arms, Nami hugging Luffy's head to her as he laughed raucously into her chest at one joke or another. The rest of the crew was giving them a respectful distance (although Nami had no knowledge of this or the atmosphere would have been much less light hearted.) understanding that they deserved some alone time with their hard earned intimacy.

The Going Merry was headed out towards another adventure where, undoubtedly, their strength, determination and morals would yet again be stretched to the very limit and then some. But this time, Luffy reflected, he was ready for it.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Author's Notes:

You may have noticed that the ending of this story was pretty subdued, overly waffy and I even attempted to be touching. That's because I am so freaking relaxed right now that writing about anything short of a hangnail in the way of drama or violence is beyond me. I guess the beginning of the chapter was pretty action packed, and Luffy did have a hard time of it with that poison in the middle, but I've been on vacation all week and at this point I've taken in so much sun and spent so much time lying in the sand like a beached whale... this was all I could manage. Sorry, I thought it was cute.

And it's over! No epilogues or sequels, I think. What else is there to say, anyway? I could do a bit about Hardcandy's life now that she's not a mob boss... perhaps she becomes a scullery maid and is terribly discriminated against by her employers because of her previous profession, and is made to suffer terribly. But even I'm having a hard time staying interested in that side story, so let's just not and say we did.

I'm still thinking about the Vampire One Piece story... but I dunno. If I get through writing three chapters I'll post it, otherwise I don't know if I could commit to that sort of endeavor. Vampire stories can be so cliché, and icky. I don't want to be a cliché, icky fanfic writer. (However, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my most favorite show of all time, and still is, really.) (Joss Wheadon is coming out with a new movie soon! Serenity! Check it out!) (Looks like Buffy, thousands of years into the future...)

And tomorrow - Harry Potter #6! Woot! I am so excited, you have no idea. Usually I'm there at the midnight parties with my friends, one of the first in line to get the new book, then I finish it that night and get to walk around all pompous and knowing as everyone else scrambles to finish it in the next few days. But this year I'm at the beach so I've been reduced to reserving a copy at the local supermarket, and praying that the shipments come in on time.

Anyway, please review. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I didn't get any more technical things about the show wrong. I'm really just no good for that sort of thing. I'd like to hear your opinions about how I portrayed everyone, and if I kept them true to character. I have to admit I know very little about Robin and Chopper, so there is that... but mostly Luffy is, once again, the crux of my angst. I tried, I really did. I know it's ooc anyway, but hopefully it worked for you. Thanks for reading, see you next time,

peace

Rio Grande.

p.s – just so you know, this is the first fic I finished on – ever. And I have a lot of fics laying around, with a lot of angry people waiting for endings. (Spirited Back – FUCK.) I don't know, this might not be as big a thing for you as it is for me... but I'm pretty freaking excited. I'm doing a happy dance, and I wish I could share it with you all.


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